Sweet Dreams in the Atmos
by SHminor
Summary: This follows my main charator Skyleigh as she finds her way in the Atmos. She ends up head over heals for a skyknight that she thinks is out of her leage. They have more in common with eachother and some cyclonians thatn they could imagaine.  AerrowxOC
1. Chapter 1

Sweet Dreams in the Atmos

We lived on the planet called the "Atmos, a largely mountainous world consisting of scattered masses known as terras. Directly below the terras, is the Wastelands, the most dangerous place on Atmos, with its infernal fires and wicked creatures. Because of the geography, travel is mostly dependent on flight. The technology of Atmos is based around energy-generating crystals, used to power the various devices. Patrolling the skies of Atmos are the Squadrons, all led by a Sky Knight, groups of warriors who pilot motorcycle-like vehicles called Skimmers that can semi-transform into flying machines. These warriors are loosely managed by the Sky Knight Council.

An evil ruler named Master Cyclonis and his servants, the Cyclonians, threatened Atmos. The original Storm Hawks led the Squadrons in a war against them, but were betrayed and defeated by one of their own(Dark Ace)." {descriptions by wikipedia} Cyclonis's daughter became the new Master Cyclonis when he had passed away.

Terra Quake had been without a Sky Knight squadron for as long as our generation could remember. Nothing bad had ever set foot here and this small place wasn't even mapped.

My best friend Diana and I had graduated a few months ago. We were both orphans finally free to live our lives. I was shy and quiet, while Diane was out going and not so quiet. As soon as we graduated we had found out someone had wanted to start up a squadron.

We jumped on the opportunity and went to try out. We didn't know who was going to be Sky Knight yet but we had found out the next week we were drafted to be on the squadron as fighters. We had met our squadron that night, finding out we were paired with the most popular guys we had graduated with. Unfortunately they were jerks.

There was Chet, a shorter good looking guy with brown hair and green eyes. He was the sharp shooter.

Chase was tactics and navigation. He had dirty blond hair and blue eyes. He was medium height.

Josh was the gadget specialist and sharp shooter. He was also medium height. He had auburn hair and hazel eyes.

Shane was the heavy ballistics specialist and pilot. He was bald and had yellow eyes and was taller than normal. His skin was a dark chocolate color.

Diana was a fighter and crystal specialist. She had brown hair and brown eyes and she was shorter than normal. She loved the idea of being on a squadron with the hottest guys on the terra, of course.

Then we had Damon. He was taller than Chase and Josh but not taller than Shane. He had black hair and blue eyes. He somehow managed to become knighted as a Sky Knight.

And of course me. I was listed as fighter and swordsman. I was just a tad shorter than Josh and Shane. I had bright green eyes and medium length straight brown hair. I, on the other hand, had second thoughts about starting a squadron with these guys. I used to have a thing for Damon, but that was in high school, he barely knew I existed until now.

All of them were great fighters but Diana and I had them beat, they didn't know this yet. The council got us a small carrier and five skimmers. The terra's budget would supply us with five. We had not met with the council yet or any other squadrons or Cyclonians.

It had been about two months since we all moved into the ship. Like normal the terra remained boring and untouched. I really didn't talk too much with the guys, they usually teased me. We didn't get along easily. We were getting prepared to fly to Atmosia for the first time to meet some of the other squadrons and so they could test us at the council to be official. It took a day and a half to fly there.

This will be all of our first times flying off the terra. I was nervous but everyone else seemed to be excited.

"Aren't you excited to become official?" Diana asked as we sat around the table in our living quarters.

"Not really. This is going to put this terra back on the map. Back on the map means people will find us, that means, Cyclonians will find us." I sighed.

"That's why we are going to protect the terra." Damon rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, don't you think it was stupid to do this, not even having experience fighting evil?" I responded.

"Then why did you want to join if you're afraid and don't want fame?" Chet asked.

"I swear that's all you guys care about. Fame. Of course I'm afraid. I'm afraid of trying to protect the terra from the head talons. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to kick some regular ranked talon ass." I smiled.

"Oh, yeah defiantly, but I don't think we will have to worry about the big guys coming to such a small terra. You think about the negatives right away. Relax." Shane laughed.

"Well which ones do you consider the biggest threats?" Diane asked Damon.

"In order from big to biggest. There is Snipe, Ravess, Carver, Repton of the Raptors, Derek, Dark Ace, and Cyclonis herself. I can almost promise you guys we probably will never see them around here." Damon shrugged.

"Yeah don't worry Skyleigh." Diana smiled.

I sighed and got up to go to my room where I spent most of my time away from everyone.

"When you feel the engine turn on, hold onto something." Josh warned. I nodded and walked away.

I laid down after I had felt the ship lift off and napped for a bit. I woke back up feeling terrible. I got up and was extremely dizzy. I stumbled around and out to the living quarters.

"Wow. You look awful." Josh chuckled.

I threw him a nasty look and sat down at the table.

"So, who's your favorite Sky Knight?" Damon asked. "Mines Starling, she's hot for an older chick and kick ass."

"Oh! Mine is Tyco of the Revolutionaries!" Diane giggled.

"Starling." Chet nodded.

"Starling is hot, but Aerrow is the man." Josh pointed out. Chase agreed.

"What about you, Skyleigh?" Damon asked.

"It's obviously you dude." Chet laughed.

"That is defiantly wrong, she is crazy for Aerrow." Diana blabbed.

"I'm not crazy for him, he is my _favorite_." I nodded.

"Oh don't be ridiculous, you love the guy." She replied. "You'd have a heart attack meeting him."

"I'm sure they would too if they met Starling." I rolled my eyes.

"Probably." Damon went into deep thought.

"I wonder if they'll be on Atmosia tomorrow." Diane squealed.

"I hope so! That would be sick!" Chase yelled. "I hope the Storm Hawks are there so we can tell Aerrow how crazy you are."

"Yeah, I'll have to warn him to keep his distance." Damon snickered.

"You guys are horrible." Diane scowled.

"If I wouldn't be so interested in protecting people, I would be out of here." I snapped.

"Oh someone's cranky again." Josh snorted. "Go back to bed."

I shut up and went to go sit on the couch.

"You guys need to knock it off, why do you feel the need to pick on her all the time?" Diane shouted.

"Still in high school mode I guess. Nerds always get picked on." Chet smirked.

"How am I a nerd?" I flipped and stood up facing them.

"Your quiet and you wear baggy guy clothing. Goody two shoes… Not normal. Not to mention your old crush on me." Damon crossed his arms.

"Okay, here's the scoop, I realized you were an asshole and suddenly I wasn't attracted to you anymore. I will show you how different I can look tomorrow. I want to make a good impression on the people we meet." I sighed.

"What are you going to wear, a bag?" Chet cackled.

"Good one!" Josh snorted.

"Come on Skyleigh, lighten up, you know we don't mean it." Damon reassured.

"Yeah right... I don't believe you for a second." I growled. I turned on the TV and Diane and I watched cartoons for the rest of the night until we landed for the night.

I said nothing and went to bed before anyone noticed. I cried myself to sleep and slept dreamlessly.

My alarm started to freak out and I jumped out of bed right away. I actually made an effort to look decent.

I walked out into the living quarters and just glared at all of the guys waiting to hear a smart remark.

"Not bad…" Damon shut the fridge and leaned on it just watching me.

"Well you defiantly look better." Chet nodded from on the couch.

"A lot better." Damon chuckled.

"Back off, you had your chance once." I muttered sitting on the other couch.

Damon sat down next to me and threw his arm around me and got comfortable.

"Knock it off." I pushed his arm away and scooted over as far as I could.

"It's obvious that you did this to catch my eye." He shrugged like he knew.

"Get over yourself. I told you last night I did this to impress who ever we are going to meet today." I explained calmly.

"Ha! It's going to take more than looks to win Aerrow over." Shane laughed. "You act weird too."

"Don't start." Diane warned.

"You too." Chet snapped.

"I don't know how we got stuck with two loser chicks." Shane rolled his eyes. Diane's eyes narrowed and she went back into the hallway to her bedroom.

I tried to get up but Damon pulled me back down next to him.

"He's only joking… You take everything so seriously." He sighed.

"How are we joking? You said it yourself, we'd be better off without them two. They are annoying." Shane chuckled. I pulled away from him and stood before him obviously offended.

"We're annoying? We try to mind our business and you all have to ruin it and start picking fights with me and now Diana. I want off of this squadron. When we land don't include me on your damn roster." My eyes started to flood. "I can't live with you guys constantly putting me down. You did that enough in school."

I turned around and ran to Diana's room. I explained to her my decision, she told me that she would do the same. We were going to give up our dream because of them.

There was a knock at the door and Damon stood in the doorway. He came in grabbing her desk chair. He pulled it in front of us and took a seat.

"Please stay with us. I just got done talking with them and we will stop. We took it too far and I'm sorry. You guys were chosen because you were better than everyone else on our terra. We need you two." He sighed.

"You said this last week." Diana sighed. I felt the ship land.

"We're here. Please tell me they aren't leaving. Who am I supposed to make fun of if they leave?" Chet whined.

"Unbelievable!" Diane yelled. She got up and stormed out of the room I followed after her. She walked out of the ship and sat down on the nearest rock. "Why are they so mean?"

"Girls, please listen, we will be nice to you, it's a hard adjustment…"Chet tried to apologize.

"Please just lay off of us then. If you want us to stay, don't make fun of us so much." Diana sighed. "Especially Skyleigh."

"Deal." Damon glared at his friends in warning.

"Fine." Josh pouted.

"Wait can we still tease her on one thing harmlessly? Her thing for that Sky Knight?" Shane asked looking past us.

"As long as you aren't being mean. That's all we ask. Don't be mean and nasty." Diana nodded.

"Good, cause he's right behind you." Chet laughed.

"Then no you can't tease- Wait what?" She stopped for a second and looked behind her.

"I'm not stupid…" I sighed. Diane hit my arm.

"Is everything okay over here?" A voice behind me asked.

I glanced over my shoulder and there stood a guy about 20 with spiky red hair and deep emerald eyes about three feet away. I turned the rest of the way towards him and there was a Wallop next to him and another human about 20 as well with blond hair spiked up and back. They all looked at us like we were nuts. I was stunned and so embarrassed.

"See even your favorite squadron thinks you're a-" Shane started but was hit in the stomach my Damon.

"Do you want them to stay or not?" Damon finally yelled.

"Okay, I'm sorry. This will take some time to get used to not making fun of you." Shane sighed.

"Yeah you guys have done it since kindergarten, I could only imagine how hard it will be." Diane snapped.

"We have some things we have to work out…" Damon sighed next to me.

"Obviously." Diana whispered. I laughed nervously.

I backed away and went back into the ship. I took some Tylenol for my terrible headache and laid down on the couch.

"Skyleigh, I'm sincerely sorry. We will all learn to work together and learn to enjoy it. Please just don't leave us, give us a while. My job as a Sky Knight is to also keep piece and I didn't realize it." Damon knelt down beside the couch and put his hand on my arm that was across my stomach.

"Okay, I'm giving everyone one last chance. I don't like arguing… I don't like fighting when we are all on the same side… I want to get along with you guys, but you won't let me. I don't mind the small teasing, like siblings, but I do mind when you make me feel ugly and tell me I'm a loser. It hurts." I sniffled.

"I understand…" He sighed. "Come outside and let's make this right. We have some squadrons to impress and I don't think fighting is going to be a good way to do it."

"Okay. Look I know we all are completely different, but I will get along with you guys if you get along with Diana and I." I stated.

"Got it." He replied.

"Why are you guys fighting anyway?" A voice asked from the door way.

I didn't have to look who it was. My smile went from ear to ear. I sat up and held my head.

"Well we didn't get to pick who we wanted to have on the squadron… It just so happens we were from two different clicks in high school. Very different clicks..." Damon sighed. Aerrow came over to the couch and leaned on the back above me. My face must have been beat red. He was right there.

"You guys graduated together?" He asked.

"Yeah, the guys were the popular well known jocks. Diana was all over the place but was still more on the dork side with me and our other friends." I explained.

"So arguing happens a lot here I assume." Aerrow stated.

"We do pick on them, but we never mean it… We will find balance soon, I hope." Damon shook his head.

"Honestly this sounds like Piper and Finn on my ship. Piper takes things too seriously and Finn has too much fun picking on her and goofing off. Eventually things simmer but you will always have moments…" He rolled his eyes. "It's kind of funny since they just recently started dating."

"Na. No one on this ship will end up dating, I assure you." Damon laughed.

"I second that." I nodded.

"You wouldn't have said that a few years ago." Damon snickered.

"Hey, don't start arguing again." I stuttered.

"Fine then I won't bring up your past love interest and your current one." He got up and looked at Aerrow then me.

"That's good teasing. That I can live with until, you go too far with what you just said." I gave him a quick glare. "I don't like it but, that stuff I can live with."

"Oh by the way my names Damon, I'm Sky Knight." He held out his had to shake.

"Pleasure, I'm Aerrow of the Storm Hawks." Aerrow shook his hand and looked at me.

"She already knows who you are." Damon waited for me to react badly.

"I'm Skyleigh." I smiled getting up to shake his hand, ignoring Damon, "You and your squadron are amazing."

"Thank you." He smiled happily. "Nice to meet you, Skyleigh."

Him saying my name made me want to yell and dance around. He was as tall as Shane in person.

"Sorry we had to meet during one of our lovely quarrels." Damon apologized.

"Can't plan everything perfectly." Aerrow laughed.

We went outside to meet the others. Everything was calmer. Aerrow introduced us to Finn and Junko. I was in my glory, but I stayed more so away and minded my business. We met Piper, Stork, and Radarr. We all got to meet Diana's favorite Sky Knight, Tyco and his squadron. We also got to meet Starling of the interceptors, the Rex Guardians, the Absolute Zeros, and the Third Degree Burners.

It took about two hours to be introduced to them all. After Aerrow took us around we went into the council building to be tested. Damon went first and they tested our moves on moving targets in an arena. Everyone we met that day, were in the stands.

They tested us and passed us through. The other squadron made it as well. They began the closing ceremony.

"Squadrons step forward." The one in the more colorful robes spoke.

"State the name you would like to be known as, Damon." Another asked as we approached.

"The Wildfires." He smiled.

"Not bad." Diane nodded.

"Kane?" The gentleman asked the other Sky Knight.

"Typhoons." Kane grinned.

"The Wildfires and Typhoons. Congratulations, you are official squadrons." The more colorful robed guy spoke.


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone around me began to cheer and clap. The stands emptied onto the field. After about an hour of talking to some of the other squadrons we snuck away and decided to take a much needed rest back at the ship. We all sat around outside the ship.

"You know we actually do make a great team, believe it or not." Chet laughed.

"No kidding." Damon shook his head with a smile.

"We have to go get our uniforms and create the emblem." Diana reminded.

"How about we help you guys get your stuff together?" A familiar voice asked behind me. I got up and turned around to face Aerrow and his squadron.

"Sure, we all need to get fitted." Damon got up and we all walked over to the tailor and got out uniforms taken care of. We all went over to the council building again and created an emblem. It was a "W" with a flame coming off it in the center. I stayed quiet and nervous the entire time.

We got back to the ship and they sat with us for a while outside.

"So have you guys ever met a Cyclonian or Raptor?" Finn asked.

"Actually, no…" Diana answered.

"We haven't even seen any before in real life." Chase shrugged.

"Well it doesn't look like you would have a problem if you would meet one." Junko reassured.

"You've been extra quiet all night, Skyleigh. What's got you so nervous?" Chet asked implying something.

"Nothing." I stated quickly.

"It's defiantly not nothing." Shane snickered.

"Don't push it guys, you're going to embarrass her." Damon warned.

I looked at Damon skeptically. "Thanks?"

"It's almost like how Damon used to make her nervous when she liked him." Chase snickered. "I wonder why."

"Stop picking on her." Diane growled.

"Pick on her about what?" Finn asked.

"Finn, mind your own business!" Piper scowled.

Shane began, "She has a thing for-" "We aren't in middle school anymore! Drop it!" I snapped.

"Easy guys. Remember we agreed to try and get along." Damon sighed.

"So do you all have Sky rides?" Finn asked.

"We only have five. The girls just ride with us, they don't know how to drive one." Damon shrugged.

"Hey I know how!" Diane snapped.

"You don't know how to drive?"Piper asked me.

"No, she got terrified just driving it on land when I tried to teach her how. After two minutes." Damon looked at me.

"I can teach her if you'd like, Damon. Everyone on a squadron should know how to drive." Aerrow offered. Finn, Junko, Radarr, and Piper looked at him with a smile.

"As long as she's willing to learn, I don't see why not. Every time we try to convince her to drive she gets scared and panics." Damon explained.

"I'll crash…" I sighed.

"I don't think you will." Aerrow reassured.

"Come on, Skyleigh, you have to learn sometime. Why not get taught by your favorite Sky Knight?" Chase pushed my shoulder.

"You'll be safe, you have my word." Aerrow grinned.

I thought for a moment. I looked up at him unsurely and nodded. He got up.

"Okay, let's go." He announced. "We'll go get my skimmer and practice in the fields first."

"Now?" I panicked.

"We'll even stay here so we don't distract you." Damon rolled his eyes.

"Just you, me, Radarr, and my skimmer." Aerrow said getting closer to the door. Radarr smirked, rolled over, and started to snore. "Okay fine. You, me, and my skimmer then"

I took a deep breath and got up cautiously. I waited for a smart remark but Damon stared the guys down until I got to the door.

I followed him outside and caught up with him as we walked to the Condor. I had no idea what to say at that point.

"They are very persistent when they tease you aren't they?" he asked.

"Yeah." I sighed.

"You seem like you're a nice quiet girl, why do they insist on teasing you?" He questioned.

"Well they recently found out who my favorite Sky Knight is. They turned it around and found a whole new reason to make fun of me..." I started to blush realizing I was venting to him.

"They made that obvious before I even got a chance to talk to you." He chuckled.

"Sorry about that…" I shied away.

"Don't say sorry. If it makes you feel better, you were my favorite rookie today." He nudged my shoulder and my heart flipped. "You have to teach me some moves."

We chatted until we got to his ship to get his skimmer. He invited me in and I was in awe being on the ship let alone being with Aerrow. I stood in the door way and took in the ship with amazement. He watched my eyes and smiled.

We continued to the Hangar bay and he opened the garage and wheeled the skimmer out to the dirt.

"Are you going to be okay?" He asked.

"To be honest with you, I don't know." I gulped.

"I won't start it just yet, just sit on it and move up to where you would drive it." He instructed. I hesitated. "Trust me."

I did as he told me and sat there. He jumped on behind me and leaned over me a bit. He brought my hands up and onto the handlebars positioning them correctly. I was in shock.

"Most skimmers start the same way." He began. His hands guided me effortlessly through each step. The engine roared to life startling me. It was much louder than ours. He kicked up the kickstand and I tensed up.

"Okay that's enough for the day!" I panicked. His face got closer to my ear so I could hear him.

"Relax Skyleigh. You aren't driving. _We_ are driving. We won't crash." He tried to calm me down. After a few seconds of idling he had me put in gear. I did.

We began to coast forward and his thumb pushed mine into the throttle and we went faster. We went up to a field and drove around. Eventually I realized he let my arms go and his was wrapped around my waste casually. As soon I realized that, the skimmer stalled out.

"You were doing that by yourself for a while." He said balancing the skimmer.

"Oh. Sorry." I apologized with my face turning red again.

"I'm making you uncomfortable. I should be the one apologizing." He pushed out the kick stand and got up.

"No, I'm fine." I assured.

"So, Terra Quake huh?" He began. He asked a lot of questions about me. I told him and we went to go sit next to a tree to talk.

"Do you remember your parents?" He asked. That question caught me off guard.

"I don't remember a thing… I only have a necklace that I keep in my room. What about you?" I returned a question for once.

"Well I don't remember either. My father Lightning Strike tried to keep me safe by hiding me in an orphanage. I had no idea until I was fifteen that he was my dad. Dark Ace defeated him and the other storm Hawks. I have some kind of stone that he left for me with me all the time ." He explained.

"How old were you?" I asked.

"I was five when he was killed." He sighed. "Do you know anything about your parents?"

"Only that they were killed by Cyclonians when I was three." I looked away.

We continued our conversation as we drove back to our ship. The bonfire was lit outside and the Revolutionaries joined the party. We chatted and roasted marshmallows the rest of the night. At about 1 am I decided to call it a night. We were going to leave in the morning.

"Why don't we all visit you on your terra in a week? We can take you to the races on Sahar, if you'd like to join us that week?" Aerrow asked as I got up to say good night to everyone.

"That sounds awesome!"Damon agreed.

"Good then saying goodbye tonight won't be so sad." I chuckled. "I can't stay awake anymore… It was so amazing to meet everyone, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again."

Everyone bid me farewell and sweet dreams. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out of it. I slept and dreamt of Aerrow. That was unusual for me. The only time I dreamt about a guy was if I had an innocent crush on them. I never dreamt about him before.

The next week and a half, we just hung around the ship like normal. The arguing seemed to die down to simple teasing which I could tolerate. We got to know each other a lot better.

After having a quick lesson with driving, with Damon the sun had begun to set and we turned in early. I fell asleep but tossed and turned. At one point I heard footsteps walking down the hall. I heard another door and more footsteps. I got up and listened at my door to another set of them. I heard whispering and another door shut. The whispering stopped like they went into another room.

I was curious for, when I looked at my clock it read 2am. I quietly slid open the door and peered out to see Diana doing the same across the hall. She tip toed over to me.

"That was Damon, Chet, and Shane. What are they up to?" She whispered.

"Probably setting up a prank… Come on." I rolled my eyes. We snuck down the hall and saw the lab's light on under the door. I was about to knock until I heard the radio crackle to life and get turned down.

'Good evening gentlemen.' A creepy woman's voice crackled and started to come in clear.

"Good evening Master Cyclonis." Damon replied almost whispering.

"What the hell?" Diana whispered angrily. We knelt down the hear better.

'What are your updates for the past two weeks, Damon?' She asked.

"We met a good number of squadrons two weeks ago. We spent a lot of time with the Storm Hawks and Revolutionaries. Tomorrow we will be met here by the Storm Hawks to go to the Great Race on Sahar in two days. I've noticed Aerrow taking interest in your chosen Swordsman, Skyleigh. We can keep them occupied for the next four days or so." Damon explained.

'Excellent. I've sent my best not too long ago to give you a crystal that can kill radio signals within ten miles. It needs to be touching a leach crystal to be triggered. Keep me up to date with Aerrow and my Swordsman. I could use her to my advantage to keep control on him as long as she has no idea she's working for me.' She replied. 'You need to meet them and have an official meeting.'

"I assure you the other four have no idea it's just us three." Chet spoke up.

They continued to talk nonsense.

"How are they Cyclonians?" Diana whispered.

"I don't know and don't care. We have to wake up the other two and get off the ship now. We have to warn everyone not to trust these traitors." I instructed and stood up.

"Should we wait until they go back to sleep?" She asked standing up as well. I suddenly caught sight of a figure behind her. It was tall and had red eyes. There was figure behind that one and it was a shorter one with blue eyes. I pulled her arm and snatched her backwards and she almost gasped noticing too. The conversation continued in the lab.

They just stared at us and someone chuckled darkly. They were too tall to be the guys. My heart raced so fast I could barely think. I heard a deep dark laughter behind us as well. Diana turned towards it and I kept my eyes on what was in front of us. There wasn't anywhere to run.

"Never mind, now may be better than later… WAKE UP!" She screamed. Her scream got muffled and someone grabbed my arms and slammed me into the door of the lab. We heard shuffling in the other rooms and all the lights came on.

I felt the door slide open behind me and I fell into the door way onto my back looking up at the most feared villains in the Atmos. The one standing in front of me was Derek (the Dark Ace's younger brother who was almost as bad as him), Dark Ace had Diane pinned against the far wall trying to keep her quiet, Carver blocking Josh from getting out of his room, Snipe blocking Chase, Ravess, and Repton and his three goons.

Derek looked similar to Dark Ace. They were both tall and had red irises. Derek wasn't as skinny and instead of Aces black hair, his was brown fading to black at the tips.

Carver was the one who betrayed Atmos just as Damon, Chet, and Shane were doing at the moment. He was shorter than Derek and Dark Ace but taller than Shane. He had spiked up dirty blond hair with a goatee and dark blue eyes.

Snipe was as short as Carver and was huge. He was known for his monster strength. He had purple hair and purple irises. He yelled a lot.

Ravess was Snipe's older smarter sister. She was taller than me and thin. She had snaky yellow eyes and violet hair. She was the sharpest shooter in Cyclonia.

Repton was leader of the Raptors. They were big scary lizards that usually teamed up with Cyclonis to get a piece of the Atmos. He was muscular than his brothers and much bigger. He was just as tall as Derek and Dark Ace.

'Do I want to know what just happened?' Cyclonis asked over the radio.

"The rest of the squadron just found out and met your talons…"Damon groaned.

'Make sure they know if they tell anyone else about this, they will be tortured the rest of their lives. They can't mess this up… They work for me. Dark Ace!' she yelled angrily.

"Yes master?" He replied.

'Make sure they don't slip up. Take care of this! We will get hold of what we need one way or another…' She growled and the radio turned to static again.

I flipped over and pulled myself up. I lunged at Damon and Derek caught me by my waist. Damon smirked at me.

"You traitors! How could you?" I screamed.

"Easy… We were all chosen by Cyclonis. We knew the entire time. She sent the Dark Ace to our terra and asked us to join them. We held try outs and he chose the best team for this." He smiled.

"You had us trust you!" Josh snapped in the door way, Carver held his arms behind him. I was too angry to remember my fear but the fear started to rise realizing who was restraining me.

"Na really?" Shane snapped sarcastically.

"Cyclonis should be the ruler of the Atmos… She knows best." Chet grinned.

"This is getting interesting." Derek snickered. Fear struck me worse than anger again.

"I thought having people on the squadron that actually had no idea what we were doing so it wouldn't be so obvious. You all made them look more natural." Dark Ace spoke.

"Why don't we talk in the living quarters while Shane gets us in the air so no one can get off, shall we?" Damon smiled and walked past me.

Derek let me go and I turned around to face them all. I started to shake uncontrollably. None of us four had armor on. Diana and I had our pajamas on and the guys had shorts on.

"You heard your Sky Knight, move!" Derek grabbed my arm and pushed me ahead of him. Shane started up the ship and lifted off. The Cyclonians blocked the door and just watched as we got ready to unleash all hell on the traitors.

"Why did you drag us into this?" Josh yelled.

"I didn't, Dark Ace did." Damon grinned in amusement.

Josh went in to punch him in the face but Damon dodged and slammed him into the wall behind him. I winced and looked away. Knowing that the biggest villains in Atmos were standing right behind me was hard enough.

"What are you doing?" Diana cried rushing to help him.

"Okay that's it, you four on the couch, now!" Dark Ace came over and pulled Josh away from Damon. He slammed him onto the couch. Damon pushed Diana towards the couch and she sat down with Josh.

"That was an order." Derek snuck up behind me slyly. I spun around and then someone pulled me back to the couch by my arm.

"Don't touch me!" I snapped at Damon who had my arm. I snatched away and slammed him in the jaw with my fist. I jumped back in alarm expecting him to return fire.

He stared at me angrily as he held his jaw. He looked passed me and shook it off.

"Enough." Dark Ace ordered.

"I would go sit before this gets ugly." Damon glared at me. He wasn't playing around so, I decided to listen and sit next to Diane. Chase sat next to me not saying a word.

"To make this easier, we will not be telling you what our plans are. I will tell you four this… If you tell anyone about this, you will be punished until the day you die, before you could even open your mouth to anyone. Am I clear?" Dark Ace explained.

"We need to watch this one. Aerrow likes to hang around her." Damon informed. I assumed he was pointing to me.

"Aerrow and Skyleigh? Now _that's_ ironic." Dark Ace laughed to himself and came closer to me. I wanted to bust out crying but I held it back.

"I want to know why you guys want to be _them_ and why you did this to us." Chase turned to the guys.

"We have always favored Cyclonia. Everything would work so much better with Cyclonis in charge. We kind of thought you and Josh would see that too." Damon put a hand on Chase's shoulder.

"You got that wrong, completely. So you want to kill people and hurt them? Innocent people?" Josh asked.

"Yeah if I had to, I probably would." Damon chuckled. The other two agreed.

"As soon as we land we are out of here." Chase got back to his feet.

"I'm afraid that isn't going to happen. You are Cyclonians. You know about our spies here so we can't afford to let you run loose. Not to mention everyone will wonder what happened to the squadron." Repton snarled.

"We aren't Cyclonians!" Josh yelled jumping off the sofa.

This arguing went on for hours, I stayed completely silent. It was morning before we knew it. Derek and Carver stayed on the ship to keep a close eye on us and the rest went to do their duties. None of us slept except Carver, Derek, Shane, Damon, and Chet. We stayed wide awake, drifting in and out of sleep on the couch.


	3. Chapter 3

We heard a honk outside that sounded like the Condor. I knew what I had to do that day. My heart hurt so badly and ached to see them, so we could feel safe again near them. I shot up and ran to the bathroom to at least make myself look presentable.

I got done in about two minutes. I flung open the door to get to my room and shut it behind me to change. I started to rummage through my drawers after I got my jump suit on to get my armor. I heard the door slide open.

"Well _that_ got you up in a hurry…" Derek snickered in the door way. I froze. For a few minutes it all only felt like a nightmare. He looked around my room, as if to inspect it.

He looked back at me and waited for me to say something. He took a step closer and I panicked. He laughed and shut my drawer.

"I was told to make sure you kept your mouth shut. I will be following you around, I will hear everything and see everything. So don't get any funny ideas." He warned. I started to put on my armor again and ignored him. He suddenly disappeared before my eyes. My heart pounded against my chest. I heard his dark laughter moving around my room.

"Skyleigh! Come here! Your favorite squadron is here!" I heard Chet yell.

I grabbed my sword out of my drawer which was safely in its scabbard. I sighed and attached it to my belt. I looked in the mirror and my eyes were sleepless and scared. I walked down the hall listening to an extra set of footsteps right behind me. I rounded the corner and saw everyone sitting around the quarters. Diana, Chase, and Josh tried to act normal but I could tell they were having a terrible time.

I didn't see Aerrow or Radarr.

"Hey Skyleigh, how are you?" Piper asked smiling from the table. She had a hint of worry. Everyone else said hello as well.

"I'm good. Tired, but good… How about you guys?" I yawned.

They said they were excited for the races tomorrow. The door opened and Radarr jumped up on my lap and he gave me a hug. I laughed and someone leaned on the back of my chair.

"How've you been, Skyleigh?" Aerrow's voice sounded behind my head. I looked up at him a smiled pathetically. I gave him a similar answer to before. He looked around at everyone worriedly as Piper did.

I looked at Damon and glared at him. He stared at me almost angrily. I felt that the ship was on the ground.

"Are you guys fighting again?" Finn asked.

Before I could speak Damon said no. I got out of the chair, stormed towards the door, and turned to Damon.

"I will find a way Damon. I'm smarter than you think." I stated coolly opening the door. I felt a body following me outside. All my bravery escaped me at once.

"Are we going to have a problem with you?" Derek asked. I froze. "I'm sure you've heard of how I am, sweetheart. I am the third most evil person alive next to my brother and Cyclonis. I wouldn't have a second thought about harming you."

"Skyleigh!" Aerrow yelled as he ran over.

"I will not let you get away with hints either." Derek growled.

"What was that about?" He asked.

"I can't… I uh… I mean I really don't…" I stumbled over my words. I took a deep breath. "I really want to tell you…"

"You can, when you're ready to talk about it." He suggested, "I just want to know if any of them hurt you."

"Not physically." I shook my head. I sat down against a tree to try and relax. He sat down next to me.

"Would an afternoon away from them help?" He asked.

"I don't think so… This problem won't go away unless someone tells you or another squadron what's going on." I sighed.

"Well why don't I take you somewhere to take your mind off of it for now?" He asked.

"Okay." I agreed. He took me to his ship and we got on his skimmer meant for only two. We flew to town to the deserted ice cream hut. Derek couldn't have followed us here that quick.

After talking more he noticed how nervous I was, looking down the road waiting to see Derek.

"Are you afraid of Damon?" He asked.

"No not really… If I could tell you, I would." I started to get torn.

I noticed a piece of paper and a pen on the counter. I shot up and snatched it over and sat next to Aerrow.

He can hear everything so I can't say. I'm hoping he didn't follow us this fast. Damon, Shane, and Chet are working with Cyclonis. We just found out last night. Derek is following me around making sure I stay quiet. I don't know about any of their plans except that the traitors are acting like spies and will distract you from what the real cyclonians are actually doing. They are threatening us to stay quiet. I am so scared.

He watched as I wrote. His face stayed calm, but his eyes shifted down the road a few times. He took the paper and pen and wrote back.

I will keep you guys safe. We will bug the ship to hear everything so we know exactly what's going on. They may have us under surveillance too so we will keep this quiet until you and the others are safe. I believe you. We will act like nothing happened.

How will you listen in if you think they are listening to you?

Stork had once created a despyafire, a device that will deactivate small cameras, microphones, etc. We will run everyone through it once you're safe. Stork is a bit paranoid so he makes random devices to stay "safe".

You have no idea how much better I feel telling you this.

We will keep you safe. They basically are doing what Carver did to Atmosia. Okay, let's get back to normal here. Don't make it obvious that you feel better or they will know.

I nodded. He folded the paper up and put it in his pocket.

"So how's your ice cream?" He asked.

"Okay. How's yours?" I asked. We acted casual and after we got back we acted like it never happened.

I played cards with Junko, Finn, Piper, and Radarr for a good while. I actually had a lot of fun and it took my mind off of everything else.

They started to discuss ways to juice up their skimmers for the race. Us four continued to ignore the three traitors. I noticed Aerrow leaning against the walls and assumed he was putting up micro listening devices.

I decided to give him a tour of the carrier after I saw that. We went into each room and he put his hand on each of the doors.

"So this is your quarters I'm assuming?" He asked walking into the next room . I ran in front of him and jumped up on my bed blocking my wall. I had clipped pictures from magazines and regular photos in a collage on the wall I was trying to hide. Most were of the team and I and Aerrow and his team. I had my idols up there like Starling and all the best squadrons on Atmosia.

"Yup this is my room, let's go back out now." I laughed nervously.

"That is pretty cool." He pointed behind me. I moved away embarrassed to let him look.

There were pictures of all of the squadron hanging out at the lake taken about a month ago. Everyone looked so happy and it was one of those rare times where we actually got along. Another was of us right after we became an official squadron. I took it down and just looked at it closely.

Aerrow studied my emotions as I stared at the memory I held in my hand. I wanted to crumble it up and throw it in Damon's quarters, but Aerrow took it and hung it back up. He put a hand on my shoulder. He looked back and noticed the necklace hanging above the collage.

"Is that the necklace?" He asked. I nodded. It was shaped like a rain drop. It was blue and looked like a crystal except it looked like water was moving around inside all the time. "This looks so familiar. How come you don't wear it?"

I shrugged. "My first caretaker told me it was my moms and I should keep it forever. That's all I remember and I was only on that terra for about a month before they took me to Quake."

We talked for a while, not realizing how dark it had gotten outside. I felt like I could open up to him with no problem, even though I have only spent two days with him. I felt safe and comfortable with him. I was almost pained to see that night had come. I didn't want them all to leave the ship.

I was sure he was going to show his team the notes when they got to their ship across the field. They would be listening to every word.

"I guess we will be over in the morning and we will leave in the afternoon for the races." Aerrow nodded at Damon.

"See you all tomorrow dudes!" Finn gave them high fives.

They all filed out and walked towards their ship.

"Can you make it any more obvious?" Damon snapped at me.

"Relax he only thinks you guys were making fun of me again." I glared at him. I got up and thought about going to my room. There was still no sign of Derek or Carver. I assumed they were making sure the Storm Hawks didn't show signs of coming back.

"I'm glad we finally know why none of us got along right." Diane stated sarcastically.

"This plan that you're helping with, will not happen. We will make damn sure of it. You don't scare us." Josh walked over to the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboard.

"What stopped you all from telling the Storm Hawks today then?" Chet asked with a smile.

No one said a word. Diane, Josh, and Chase looked away.

"Wait, do you think we are afraid of you three?" I snorted.

I saw Diana crack a smile.

"You think you're a comedian now, loser?" Shane snapped.

"You think you're Cyclonians now, losers?" I smiled.

"You're pushing your luck, Skyleigh." Damon warned.

"What was that? Was that a wannabe Cyclonian idiot?" I kept it up trying to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Suddenly Damon shot out of his seat and back handed me in the face. I fell back into my seat. Josh came out of nowhere and nailed him in the stomach. Diana pulled me up and guided me to the hall way and into the bathroom.

There was a red mark already bruising across my cheek bone and my nose was gushing blood. I didn't realize I was crying. Diane handed me some gauze. I sat on the floor taking in the pain and trying to stop the bleeding. She locked the door when we heard footsteps down the hall. She was afraid and so was I.

"I can't believe he would hit you like that…" She started to cry too.

"So it's okay for me to put up with their teasing every day, but as soon as I turn it around on them, I get hit?" I sobbed.

There was a knock at the door and we started to shake. We didn't know who it was, it could have been Derek, Damon, or Carver. None of which I wanted to see at the moment.

"You okay Skyleigh?" Chase asked. We sighed and she opened the door. Josh and Chase saw me and I saw their concern almost immediately. They pulled me up and we all went into Chase's quarters, the bigger room on the ship.

"We just wanted to say how sorry we are for teasing you so badly over the years…" Josh said handing me an ice pack.

Chase nodded in agreement as he sat next to me on the floor.

"You guys weren't as harsh as them three, trust me… We defiantly don't mind you two." I tilted my head up to slow the bleeding.

"We have to do something about this…" Josh shook his head sitting down in a chair.

"We can't plan shit knowing they could be in this room." Chase sighed.

"Why not just leave?" Diane shrugged.

"They will find us again. We know something we shouldn't have found out." Chase pointed out.

"We will think of something guys, but we need to stay together and sleep in the same room." Josh said. "We need sleep and I think being in the same room would be safer than being alone."

We agreed and we all went to get the sleeping mats each of us had, just in case we would want to sleep outside. Before I got mine, I cautiously tiptoed into the bathroom to examine the damage. The bruise under my eye had already looked horrible.

I saw a figure standing in the door in the mirror and jumped around startled.

Damon pulled my face up and he examined his doing. There was no emotion in his eyes.

"Don't touch me." I pulled away from him and pushed by him to get to my room.

"What are you doing?" He asked following me to my room.

"That's none of your business." I growled. I started to search for the sleeping mat under my bed.

"I'm your sky knight. Your business _is_ mine." He said in my door way.

"Ha! You got that wrong. Sky Knights are leaders not dictators. You are no Sky Knight. You aren't even a Cyclonian, you're Cyclonis's little pawn." I looked up at him.

"If all goes well with the plan, we will be ranked almost as high as Ravess and Snipe. We would be Elite talons, right underneath the head talons." He nodded with satisfaction.

"Why would you want to be one of them?" I shook my head.

"I just feel like I will belong, just like Shane and Chet." HE stated.

"It's also in his blood. He is Cyclonis's cousin after all." A voice behind Damon stated.

"Did I forget to mention that I'm related to Cyclonians?" He smiled. Shivers went down my spine.

Derek stood next to him and smiled down at me. I felt sick. I was attracted to a Cyclonian a few years ago. I shook my head and pulled my bed mat out. I stood up and grabbed a pillow off my bed.

Damon took a seat in the desk chair and faced me.

"Do you want to know something funny?" He asked. I hesitated as Derek approached me. He pushed down on my shoulder to sit.

"Did you also know that the Dark Ace knew your parents." Damon continued. I looked at him confused.

"Mia and Geon. Mia was quiet, attractive, and clever. Geon was fearless, strong, fast, and reliable." Dark Ace appeared in the room before me. "They were Lighting Strike's best pair. Together they worked like clockwork."

They waited for me to speak. I said nothing I was stunned both with fear and shock. They were Storm Hawks.

"Once Lightning Strike and Elaina had Aerrow, Mia and Geon had you, two years later. I met you and your twin when you were two and when Aerrow was four. I came to the squadron when I was only 16. They hid you both before the war and before I single handedly defeated them all." Dark Ace snickered. "Your sister was on board at the time."

Once again I said nothing and tears started rolling down my face.

"You have your father's fighting skills and your mother's smarts. That's why when I saw you again on terra Quake, I needed you to be on our side." He stated.

I took a deep breath and turned to my wall of pictures. I grabbed my mom's necklace and put it on. I also ripped down the picture of us at the council arena. I tore it up into tiny pieces and threw it in Damon's face.

"Have fun working in the shadow of your cousin..." I got up and grabbed all my stuff. They just smirked at me and Dark Ace let me leave the room.

I told the others about what he had told me. They were just as shocked as I was. After we talked for a while we all started to drift asleep. I was out like a light.

"Get up! The Storm Hawks are walking over." Dark Ace yelled at the door. We all shot up right in shock.

"You are going to tell them you fell in the shower and hit you face on the edge." Derek was standing over me and went to touch my face.

I scooted away from him before he could touch me. He disappeared before my eyes with his evil grin on his face.

"Damon, get them up…" Dark Ace instructed disappearing himself.

I got up and angrily pushed by Damon. I went into bathroom and slammed the door. I looked in the mirror and a good portion of my face was black and blue.

I washed my face and walked into the living quarters.

"Hey Sky- What happened?" Piper jumped out of her seat and rushed over to me. Damon, Chet, and Shane glared at me from the couch. The others must have been in their room yet.

"I slipped and fell in the shower." I sighed.

"That can't be from that… You look like you got hit." Aerrow glared at Damon and the others from the kitchen. He got up and brushed hair behind my ear to get a better look.

"Whoa, are you accusing me of abusing her?" Damon shot back at him.

"He didn't…" I said to Aerrow. After five minutes of silence things started to loosen up between Aerrow and Damon. That's the way it seemed anyway.

"I do have some bad news for you. The races got postponed." Aerrow announced.

"We are going to go investigate the Cyclonian sightings on Amazonia instead, if you'd want to join us." Finn smiled.

"Amazonia, huh?" Damon laughed nervously.

"We so should!" I grinned at Damon.

"Yeah it will be fun…" Finn smiled.

"It's up to you, Sky Knight." Piper crossed her arms.

"Either that or we check terra Xoam." Aerrow stood up and stretched. "You never know…"

"Go get everything you want to keep from your room. Get your armor on too and tell the others." Piper whispered.

I nodded and casually walked away. I passed Chase and whispered for him to get his keepsakes together calmly. He passed it on to Josh.

"Diana, go get your most precious possessions together." I whispered.

I ran to my bedroom and started to pile my pictures into a bag and threw on my armor and threw some clothing into the bag. I ran to the bathroom and grabbed my tooth brush and stuff. I went back to my room rushing.

I threw the bag over my shoulder and ran down the hall. The others had their bags hidden in the hall way. I threw it down and went back out of the living quarters. Damon was in Aerrow's face throwing a fit.

"Who told you I was a Cyclonian?" Damon snapped. "I'm not."

"How I know, doesn't concern you." Aerrow growled.

"I've got your stuff guys." Junko whispered and showed us a crystal. "It's a teleporting crystal, all your stuff is on our ship."

"_He can hear everything so I can't say. I'm hoping he didn't follow us this fast. Damon, Shane, and Chet are working with Cyclonis. We just found out last night. Derek is following me around making sure I stay quiet. I don't know about any of their plans except that the traitors are acting like spies and will distract you from what the real cyclonians are actually doing. They are threatening us to stay quiet. _I'm afraid Derek was following _this_ one yesterday and wrote this to Aerrow when they couldn't be seen." A hand suddenly weighed down my shoulder. "I found this hanging from Aerrow's pocket."

Dark Ace waved a paper in front of my face.

"They know everything. There were listening devices everywhere." Derek appeared behind Aerrow. I spun around to face Dark Ace and backed away cautiously. Aerrow drew his blades and his team took their stances. Piper whipped out her staff, Finn pulled his cross bow out of nowhere, Junko smashed his fists together to activate his knuckle busters, and Radarr snarled at them. Stork hid behind Aerrow with fear.

Derek and Dark Ace both whipped out their glowing energy blades. Carver and Snipe appeared and were ready to attack. Damon, Chet, and Shane did the same.

We four were in the middle and hesitated.

I slashed my blade out and faced the Cyclonians terrified. The others followed what I did.

"Get to the Condor guys." Aerrow directed.

"You guys will be out numbered if we leave you." Josh said. No one moved. They were waiting for someone to move.

"Derek, get Skyleigh. She will pay for what she has done." Dark Ace ordered.

He immediately lunged and me and slashed at me. I ducked and our swords clashed into one another repetitively. Everyone around me started to fight.

I focused on trying not to get nicked by his blades. He got past my blade and slammed me into the wall pinning my hand holding my sword.

"Not bad. Not good enough though. Drop the blade before you get yourself hurt now, sweetheart." He grinned.

I started to kick at his legs but he just laughed at my attempt. He put his blade up to my neck almost brushing against my skin. I could feel the heat radiating off of it. My sword fell from my hand and hit the floor. He pulled me towards him, spinning me around with his blade still positioned next to my neck.

A blast hit the end of his blade, smashing the crystal to pieces sending the blade flying across the room and into the wall. I yanked away as he was distracted and Aerrow grabbed my hand and pulled me to his side. Aerrow looked behind him and Derek picked up his dead blade and chucked it hard at Aerrow like a Frisbee. I jumped in front of him and kicked up my knee. It hit my knee guard and recoiled back at Derek. He went for it again and I ran and kicked it away as he reached down for it.

"Thanks." Aerrow said as he pulled me away before Derek could grab me.

"She's got some serious reflexes…" Finn complemented as he struggled through Shane's strength.

Piper, Stork, Chase, and Diana managed to get out and start running over to the condor.

"Damon I'll distract Aerrow while you get her locked up in her room." Derek directed.

"No problem." Damon was suddenly behind me. He pushed me towards the hall.

Derek jumped in front of Aerrow and punched him across the face. I pushed Damon back and punched him in the jaw.

"Watch yourself Skyleigh!" He snapped grabbing both of my wrists and pushing me further back. I yanked away and just looked at him and my eyes filled up with tears again. I knew him since I got on that terra. All of them… I grew up with them, looking up to them.

"We used to look up to you guys Damon… Why did you do this to us? We finally started to get along and act like a family.. You ruined our dreams of being on a squadron. You ruined everything!" I cried.

"If you join us it would be like you were part of our family… Regardless, you will join us whether you want to or not." Damon put his hands on my shoulders.

"I will never join you. I will never trust you. I don't want anything to do with you. You're heartless." I sneered.

"Too bad." He laughed. He grabbed my arms and spun me around. I tried to dig my heels into the ground as he pushed me into the hall.

I dropped myself to the ground and he tumbled right over me. I took off back into the living quarters and grabbed a frying pan down from the kitchen area. A shot fired behind me as I spun around.

I hit the ball of energy like a baseball of the pan and it flew back in the direction it came. Damon ducked quickly avoiding the recoil.

"Bring it all-star." I snickered waving the pan around like a baseball bat.

"You are taunting me with a frying pan?" He threw his head back and laughed.

"Yep." I smiled and tossed it at his head and while he dodged that I turned around and saw Shane run for the controls. I ran after him and picked up my sword on the way. Before he could start the carrier up I slammed my sword into the controls. Sparks flew everywhere. Shane pushed me out of his way and threw me to the ground on my back.

Damon grabbed at me but I scrambled backwards away from him and someone pulled me up by my arms. Aerrow turned me around pushed me towards the door. The fight started to empty out into the clearing. We already ran across the field and into the ship. The Cyclonians instead ran for skimmers and heliscooters. They took off and flew away leaving our old home, destroyed.

I realized that the Revolutionaries' ship was parked next door. They gave up because they were outnumbered severally.

"We already called reinforcements to both terras. They are ruining Cyclonis's plans as we speak."Aerrow said as he walked over to a table with a huge storm Hawk emblem on it. "Now we know what they are looking for. Piper, if you would…"

"They are looking for the Sfix stone. It was the stone that they used to take away the dangerous powers of fire and water benders over 500 years ago... Dark Ace and his brother are blood related to two of the most powerful fire benders alive. They are pure fire benders." Piper began to explain. "If they get hold of that stone, it could restore the gene in themselves and gain the power of their ancestors. Cyclonis and the previous masters made sure the benders only had children with other benders to make sure they could keep the gene alive. If they would have children with a mortal, the rest of the generations to come would have no trace of that gene."

"This is their last chance to use this gene to their advantage. They are probably the last gene carriers alive. There are no others that can continue the gene." Aerrow finished.

"Wow… You remembered that off the top of your head?" Chase asked Piper.

"That explains a lot. Shouldn't we be stopping them from getting this stone then?" Finn asked.

"Let me get on the radio and see what is going on." Aerrow walked out of the room.

I looked at Diana, Chase, and Josh. We all looked around at each other sadly.

"Well that was short lived…" Josh sighed.

"What?" Junko asked.

"Being a squadron…" Diane sniffled.

"Well the Revolutionaries are looking for two more hands if you guys were interested." Piper smiled hopefully.

"What about the terra?" Chase asked.

"It's still unmapped… All the threats are gone now. It's very uncommon that they will return to such a small terra. The Council here can contact us now any way." Piper smiled reassuring us.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but we have room for three people to join our squadron guys if you'd want to join us. You guys are great." Tyco stood in the door way followed by his four teammates, Dan, Yen, Jenks, and Flynn (Finn's little brother).

"I want you guys to keep this up. Join the Revs." I grinned.

"And you? What will you do?" Chase asked.

"I will go on with my life." I nodded.

"We actually wanted to know if you wanted to join our squadron. We have room for one more and we are always usually with the Revs. Aerrow would love to have you on our team, I'm sure. You are a descendant of the original squadron anyway." Piper seemed to get excited. "Save me from this…" She pointed at Finn and Junko arm wrestling.

"I love that idea." Aerrow walked into the room again.

"We three like the idea of being Revolutionaries too!" Diane got up and hugged Tyco.

"Be apart of the big Rev/Hawk family guys, you know you want to…" Finn grinned as he pulled his arm away from Junko.

"I think it would be cool to have you Skyleigh." Junko agreed.

"Come on… What do you say?" Aerrow put an arm around my shoulders.

I looked at everyone's smiling eager faces and sighed.

"I would love to join you guys. For you guys and my parents and my sister, I will be glad to join your squadron." I smiled. "I will not let you guys down."

"I have a feeling you made your family and mine proud today." Aerrow squeezed me into him. Before I knew it I was suffocating in my new family's group hug.

After that moment, Aerrow had told us that the Sky Knights found the Sfix stone and took it to Atmosia for safe keeping. Over the next few days, everything shifted. We dropped our old carrier into the wastelands as part of a ceremony that the terra had organized the next day. We burned our insignias and threw them in where we had dropped the ship before we left. We went back to Atmosia and began official members of the squadrons. The Wildfires were no more.

I managed to get everything out of my old room to fill up my new one across from Aerrow's quarters. He was such a sweet person, just like I'd imagined. It was such a strange feeling knowing we meet when I was born. It was actually comforting.


	4. Chapter 4

Diana, Piper, and I got along so well. Within two weeks Piper fit in perfectly with Diana and I. The rest of the guys got along great. I got along with Finn, Junko, and Stork, but not as fast as I did with Aerrow, Radarr, or Piper. It took me a while to get passed being shy and quiet with them.

No one had reported any Raptor or Cyclonian sightings for about two weeks. On the news you'd hear what happened on an unknown terra that day two weeks ago. They interviewed us eventually and got the full story. Of course I didn't speak to any of the reporters but the others did.

During those two weeks we stayed on terra Atmosia. No one teased me until I cried or made me angry. No one made me sad or self-conscious. I was finally happy and felt like I belonged.

Everyday started and ended just about the same. We trained until lunch, patrolled the terra, diner, cards, then bed. Our ships were parked right near by the council so we could keep an eye on the area.

I woke up in the middle of the night, extremely thirsty so I was out in the kitchen area at about 2am. I sat down at the table alone and started to nod off.

I snapped awake when I heard footsteps in the room.

"You alright?" Aerrow asked putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah I'm okay I was just thirsty." I smiled pathetically looking up at him. I suddenly noticed he was shirtless and my face tinted red. I looked away and tried to calm my nervous stomach. I was really never alone with him too much and whenever we were alone, I would get nervous and make myself look stupid.

He sat down next to me facing me. My stomach flipped about forty times. I observed his sleepy green eyes and messy red hair. I couldn't help but smile.

"What?" he asked smiling back looking into my eyes.

"Nothing." I chuckled and looked away. There was a moment of silence. "How come you're up?"

"I heard you walk out here and I just wanted to see if you were okay." He shrugged.

"Oh." I replied not knowing what else to say. "I'm sorry I woke you…"

"I wake up easily so I can stay alert. That's not your fault at all." He laughed. "Now are you really thirsty or is something bothering you? You seem nervous."

"Trust me, nothing is bothering me." I chuckled. I got up and took my glass to the sink to clean it out. He followed me over and leaned on the counter next to me facing the opposite way.

"I just thought I would let you know how happy we are to have you as our new family member." He smiled.

"I am too. Thank you for taking me in, Aerrow. It's almost like a dream being on such a great squadron." I admitted.

"Well, you were born to be here. I just wish I could remember back then. I remember nothing…" He sighed. I stopped scrubbing the cup and looked at him.

"They probably wiped our memory… To keep us safer." I guessed and shook my head.

He nodded.

"There is one thing I remember, only when I look at you. It's your eyes. I don't know why. I was only five but when I look in your eyes I feel like I am starting to remember things…" He looked at me cautiously waiting for a reaction. I studied his eyes and noticed the familiar nervousness and confusion I usually got looking in his emerald eyes. I felt just as confused.

"Come to think of it, I get that feeling too. It's confusing, but kind of comforting." I stated.

"Exactly!" He exclaimed.

I finished cleaning up and sat down on the couch. I yawned and rubbed my eyes.

He sat down and he flipped on the tv. He turned the volume almost all the way down and was captivated by skimmer racing almost instantly. Before I knew it, sleep fell upon me…

I woke up feeling a bit more refreshed than the last time I woke and I tucked in a warm blanket. I gazed around the silent room and noticed Aerrow sleeping on the other side of the couch. I bit my lip and I had to recall how I got here. I noticed light beginning to filter down through all the windows.

I stretched out and sat up. No one was up yet and I noticed something on the meeting table. I got up stepping closer and as soon as I saw the familiar parchment I swore I stopped breathing. I cautiously picked up the picture and started to think back.

It was the photo I tore up and threw in Damon's face, fully intact and undamaged. My head filled with confused thoughts.

"What's wrong?" Aerrow asked suddenly right behind me. I gasped and spun around to face him. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to sneak up on you. What's that?"

He saw the familiar picture and looked at me confused.

"How did one of you pictures get out here? That wasn't there last night." Aerrow raised an eye brow.

"This shouldn't even be here. I ripped this same photo up and threw it at Damon. It was right after they told me about my family." I explained turning the picture over. My hand writing was on the back with a note and date. "This is the one that got torn up."

"Maybe you grabbed the wrong picture and tore it up. It could have been on the floor somewhere and someone could have picked it up while we were sleeping or the wind blew it on the table here. The window is open too." He reassured me.

I thought for a second and shrugged.

"Maybe you're right. I still want it gone though… It brings back bad memories…" I sighed.

"Okay, come on, let's throw it in the wastelands." He laid a hand on my shoulder. We left a note for the others and we went out into the morning sunrise on his skimmer.

I wanted Aerrow to do the honors of ripping it up and we both threw it all into the wastelands. The day went on like normal and we didn't mention the odd appearance of the picture. I helped Diane and Piper in the lab most of the day and all the guys spent the day patrolling the skies around the terra on their skimmers.

The day ended normally. I fell asleep in my own bed and slept soundly until I was awoken by the Condor's sirens.

I jumped up and a paper fell off of me and onto the floor. I saw the writing of my script and another message.

You will never be able to destroy the memories. They will always haunt you. By the way, we are about to win over the Atmos. We will let you be our servants so we may spare you.

Your Sky Knight,

Damon

I snapped up the picture and quickly threw on my armor and ran to the living quarters.

I pulled the picture out and put it in front of Aerrow's face. He read it over and threw it on the table. The Revs were waiting outside

"Let's go the sirens on the safe under the building are going nuts. They're almost down there. Finn, Junko you're with me, the rest of you guard the entrance to block them from getting out and be ready for battle." Aerrow activated his blades. Towards the entrance and I ran with Aerrow. "Stay with Everyone else."

"You're not going in alone… I have a score to settle with some old losers." I smirked.

"I know you will help me but I don't want them to hurt you for ruining their plans the first time." He stopped in front of the entrance.

"I'm part of the Storm Hawks Aerrow, I will sacrifice myself to save the Atmos, just like our parents and just like you." I said running through the door and into the dark stone stair well. "Even though I am scared of the dark… and Cyclonians and stuff… Got to get over it sometime I guess."

"You are defiantly a Storm Hawk. The dark is the least of your worries Sky." Aerrow chuckled. We ran down the stairs. I noticed something right in front of me starting to glow blue as we went down more stairs.

"Skyleigh, why is your necklace glowing?" Finn asked as we ran.

"Oh, I don't know, but I like the light so it can keep it up if it wants." I nodded.

"It's getting brighter! Wait look, there is more light up ahead." Junko stated. He was right. We slowed down and cautiously turned the corner seeing a torch held by Damon with Derek holding his hand in it holding a crystal. He didn't look like he was in pain at all and his eyes were illuminating red. He just looked up at us and smiled. His eyes widened as he looked at me. He had something in his belt that was glowing red. I noticed a heavy duty safe cracked open next to a hole filled with water.

"Hurry up! Damon take the crystal and hold it! It should still be hot enough to activate your bending! Get them and hold them here. I believe we just made a lovely discovery." Dark Ace smiled and came into view with dancing flames in his palm.

"He's one too?" Finn yelled.

The fire launched towards us and looped around me forcing me to approach the Dark Ace until I got about a foot from him.

"Skyleigh!" Finn, Junko, and Aerrow yelled in unison.

"That is why they hid you." He chuckled deeply. He reached out releasing the flame around me and he grasped the pendant of my mom's necklace.

I heard commotion behind me, but I was too petrified to look. As soon as he let go of the necklace and I whipped out my sword and stepped away.

He held his hand out and a flam formed from it and it grew into a twin bladed fiery sword.

I saw Aerrow dive for something in mid air out of the corner of my eye.

"I only had it for a second! It probably wasn't long enough!" Damon threw a tantrum.

"Relax Damon, it will just take longer to get your full power. We need to get that stone there are more carriers we need to test. We need to take this to Cyclonis!" Derek directed and he dove for Aerrow.

"I thought you said this was hot? It's ice cold!" Aerrow questioned jumping to avoid him. His palm suddenly lit up in flames and the stone went flying. Blue flames not like the others.

I heard it land in the water pit that the safe must have been in. I took off towards it.

"Get it Skyleigh!" Aerrow yelled getting attacked by both Derek and Damon. The other traitors were keeping Finn and Junko occupied along with some other talons.

"NO!" Dark Ace yelled behind me. I dove in and followed the glowing stone deeper and deeper into the water. Usually you could feel the pressure of the deep water crushing you but I was okay, running out of air but still okay. I reached out and caught the stone and a shock went through my entire body and a flash of light blinded me. I was shot out of the water with the stone still in hand.

I scrambled up and snatched the stone and looked around.

"Skyleigh! HERE! Throw it!" Tyco yelled jumping around near the door. I threw it as hard as I could and he actually caught it and took off up the stairs.

I ran towards Aerrow to help him get Damon and Derek away from him.

"HEY!" I yelled behind Damon.

He turned and I slammed my fist into his face. He angrily grabbed at me and I jumped backwards and went for my sword but it wasn't there.

"You always seem to misplace that. That's such a bad habit." He snickered and his hands lit up in flames, not as much fire as the others.

"Please don't do this!" I pleaded starting to panic.

I tripped over a rock ledge of course and fell on the ground looking up at him.

"Why shouldn't I?" He asked.

"She needs to stay alive Damon." Derek put a hand on his shoulder.

"Why? She is just going to keep getting in our way and ruining our plans." He shook his head in confusion. I got up to my feet and Aerrow ran in front of me and took a stance.

"She is a bender, the only known female bender besides a possible Cyclonis." Dark Ace spoke from behind me. I faced him and Aerrow and I were back to back and surrounded by the three.

"She's one too?" Aerrow asked.

I looked down at my hands confused. I shook my head like I knew he was lying. I wanted my sword for protection. When I thought about that, my one hand started to glow blue and suddenly there was water in my hand forming my sword. As soon as it grew to its liking it turned solid. It almost looked like ice but it didn't feel like it.

I looked at my other hand held it up. Water appeared and hovered over my palm. I inhaled quickly and it froze continuing to hover. The shock hit me and the ice ball cracked all over the ground.

"You all got what you wanted, why don't you just leave?" Dan yelled angrily. The rest of the Revs surrounded the Cyclonians that surrounded us.

"Well now, there is one other thing we want today." Dark Ace grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and pulled up a bit.

"I don't think so!" Aerrow jumped next to me and kicked Dark Ace in the stomach. I fell on my knees and shot water over the Dark Ace's feet and turned it to ice, temporarily immobilizing him.

"Let's get out of here!" Aerrow warned lifting me up by my waist and setting me on my feet. He rose fire from the floor around us creating a path towards the exit. He looked pained and drained.

"I don't know if fire hurts them... Let's get you out of here. Guys! Hold them off!"He yelled grabbing my hand and running out the door and up some stairs. After making it up several flights we heard someone running behind us.

"Guys hurry! We couldn't hold them long!" Chase yelled.

"Get down!" Tyco yelled up to us.

We ducked and fire shot over our heads. I stopped and waited until everyone passed me and gathered all of my energy. There must have been a well nearby for water exploded from the wall when I summoned it and started to gush down the stair well. I quickly froze it in one big mass and continued to freeze it until it created a thick wall to slow the Cyclonians down. It felt like I had all of my energy drained, but I managed to push myself to keep up with the others. Seconds later I heard the wall of ice crash, down two flights.

We reached the entrance and just in time for the Cyclonians to catch up to us. We also found more Cyclonians battling more squadrons in the air and on the terra.

A fire wall blasted in front of us forcing us all to stop. I turned and saw Derek fighting to hold it there. He was losing energy quickly so I took that to my advantage. I whipped freezing water at him making sure the small ice crystals stung at his skin. The wall dissipated and everyone but Aerrow and I ran to help the battle.

"It would just make it easier on you two if you just gave up and became Cyclonians right now. We will always out number you, unless you come across another carrier." Damon yelled.

"Join you? Sure." I shrugged. Aerrow looked at me shocked.

"Really?" Damon asked confused.

"Don't make me laugh! You all are sick people! I would never be one of you!" I yelled keeping them distracted from the others.

"You both will be in a few moments…" Dark Ace smiled slyly. Someone grabbed me into a choke hold and I saw the other three charge towards us. I managed to put my hand on Carver's arm and shot water up his arm and froze it all at once. He yelled in pain and I slipped away from him.

Aerrow was trying to fight off all three of the fire benders. He looked weaker than before, but so did the others.

I summoned my sword and plunged it into the dirt and sent water charging at the fight. Three ice pillars shot from the ground lifting up the three Cyclonians and wrapping around their arms. I suddenly felt lightheaded and extremely dizzy. I fell backwards and caught myself with my hands.

They started to melt the ice away but it gave Aerrow time to get away. He ran over and blasted fire over my head. I heard Snipe yell angrily. Aerrow crouched down next to me, helping me sit up.

"If we take down those three, they will probably surrender and leave…" Aerrow explained. "That is their power source."

"How are we going to do that?" I asked.

"Help me blast the crap out of them. Freeze them for a second and I will blast them off the terra." He stated. "Get as many Cyclonians as you can." They were already running for us again.

"Uh… Okay…" I gulped still light headed. I stood and concentrated on water flowing through my mind. Water started to engulf them and about five other Cyclonians. I inhaled quickly and froze them all in place. Pain shot through my entire body.

I remember is seeing Aerrow force a blue fire wall at the Cyclonians. They all did the same back except some of the other talons flew backwards.

Suddenly the light of the fires dimmed and flickered. Aerrow and Damon both hit the ground unconscious at the same time. Derek fought to stay standing and he stumbled over towards Aerrow and I, but then he collapsed about five feet away. Dark Ace swayed a bit.

"You all win this time, but once we master bending and get Cyclonis the stone, we will take all of you out in one shot… Even Aerrow and Skyleigh…" He almost fell flat on his face, but Snipe and Carver caught him.

Then I remember being picked up and carried somewhere. Then I remembered seeing white.


	5. Chapter 5

I began to hear beeping sounds. Then I heard someone speaking and another talking back. One I recognized instantly.

"Aerrow?" I asked as I opened my eyes to scan the room. It was very plain with white walls and it was very cool. I glanced around and recognized it as a hospital room.

"Skyleigh, you're awake too?" an older woman with kind brown eyes and black hair. "Both of you woke up almost at the same time, how convenient."

Aerrow gave me a tired smile from the hospital bed next to mine. He was hooked up to IVs and wires, and had a breathing tube under his nose. I had the same thing.

"What… what happened?" I asked.

"The doctors have done research from the past on benders…Your commas were from using too much power before your bending was developed enough. We kind of figure that the other three Cyclonians had the same thing happen." She explained.

"Commas? How long were we like this? Where are we?" Aerrow panicked. His heart monitor picked up its pace.

"Three days. Not very long. Both of you still need a day or two to rest. You are in the ICU in the Atmosia Hospital." She smiled.

"I thought you were going to say about three months." He sighed. The monitors beeping slowed.

"I'm going to inform your team. They will be so happy you both are awake. I'm going to grab you some lunch too." She nodded and scurried out of the room.

The team came and told us every detail. The rest of the Cyclonians were too worried about the three head talons and the Squadrons were too worried about us. Both sides just stopped fighting.

We stayed for one more day in the hospital and they released us. Aerrow and I got busy trying to figure out this bending business. We did research as well. We trained and practiced at least half of everyday. About two weeks went by without any word on the Cyclonians.

Piper seemed to be trying to stop our research, as we got to the life span part of every book. We shrugged it off and stopped when she told us to.

Finally there was an emergency call from terra Gale about Ravess and Snipe and Repton causing problems. We headed over eager test out what we have learned. We landed and found it was a false call. We stayed the night.

It was a beautiful night and the entire terra was out enjoying the clean crisp air. Aerrow and I usually trained with the rest of the Storm Hawks, but we let them have some fun. We found a nice in a small clearing in the trees. There was a large pond in the middle and the moon shined into the area lighting it up brilliantly.

"So what should we start with? Sparring, tricks, offence, defense, target practice?" I asked ready to have some serious fun. I turned around to see Aerrow Dive into the water. I looked at him skeptically when he came up for air.

"Let's take a break tonight." He smiled. I got up and walked over to the pond and dipped my foot in. I made a face and pulled it out. I thought for a second and stepped onto the surface of the water and balanced myself to stay on top of it. I walked out to him and stuck my tongue out at him, teasing him. "Hey you're cheating!" He laughed.

He grabbed my leg and yanked me down.

"Hey!" I laughed. I got myself stabilized in the water away from him. He dove under water again. I could feel where he was headed in my direction. I played fair and swam like a normal person could. We splashed around for a good while until we were tired. Then we just relaxed and floated around. I closed my eyes and rested.

Suddenly I felt hands around my waist. I sat up shocked and Aerrow smiled down at me. He pulled me close to him and he just looked so calm. I didn't know what to make of this but I knew my face was beat red.

"It's okay. I won't if you don't want to." He whispered with seriousness in his emerald eyes. His fingers brushed against my face sending shivers down my back. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. His eyes closed and I did the same instinctively. I felt him lean forward.

"Aerrow! Skyleigh! Where are you?" Finn yelled. Our eyes shot open and we pulled away from each other and looked around.

"Guys! We need to get out to the Wayside! Cyclonians are causing some trouble with civilians." Junko yelled.

"Okay coming!" Aerrow yelled back. We took off back to the condor before Finn and Junko could wonder. The Revs were already there. We noticed my old squadron yelling and cursing at each other. I only saw Chet and Shane.

"What's going on?" I asked suddenly realizing everyone else stayed back and let me go forward.

"Great! Now them? We don't need you to boss us around! The rest stops are no man's land!" Shane rolled his eyes.

"You are terrorizing innocent people! This doesn't seem to be no man's land to you guys! You always have to cause shit!" Josh got in his face.

"So you come and annoy_ us_ just because someone tells you we looked at them wrong?" Shane growled.

"Bull shit! You just beat the crap out of someone!" Chase threw a nasty look at them. I looked over at the man getting loaded onto a stretcher. There were burn marks on his leg.

"All of you back off of each other. NOW!" I yelled at both sides. "As we have all learned before, getting up in each other's space is a bad thing and it doesn't solve anything!"

Chet and Shane rolled their eyes and took a step back. The others stepped back quietly.

"Someone please tell me what happened to him?" I pointed to the man unconscious in the back of the ambulance.

"He was yelling at us to get off the station. He was pissing us all off." Shane explained.

"Well even if he was being annoying like you guys, you shouldn't have hurt him. Like you said this IS no man's land. Just leave to get away from someone like that next time. We wouldn't want things to get uglier when we come to check on things." I sighed.

"Just leave? We can't let people like that win." Chet sneared.

"What would he have won if you just ignored him?" I asked.

The others went to talk to people, the rest of the Wildfires stayed to keep the other two busy. There had to have been someone else with them to burn him like that.

"Why do you always have to ruin the fun Skyleigh?" Shane rolled his eyes.

"That's fun to you?" Chase yelled. Shane went to hit him in the face. I threw up an ice shield between them. Shane yelled in pain to impact on his hand. I got between them and pushed them away from each other.

"Enough!" I yelled. "Leave!"

"You leave!" Chet fired back pushing me into the others.

My body went cold and my vision tinted blue. I looked at my hands engulfed in a glowing mist. My sword grew in my hand and I took a stance. Chet and Shane looked like they had just seen a ghost.

"I said leave, don't cause trouble on no man's land again or I will freeze you alive and throw you into the wastelands." I smiled.

They ran into their ship and slammed the door behind them. My vision returned back to normal and my sword disappeared.

The ship stayed and didn't take off. I looked around for others. I saw them inside arguing with Repton and his brothers.

"They know how much of a threat you are." Diane punched me in the shoulder playfully.

"No kidding… They're easy to scare but, I don't know about them…" I gulped pointing to the diner. "That still doesn't explain the burns on that man…"

"How many of them could possibly be here?" Chase asked.

"I don't know, but we need to make sure they stay inside their ship so they don't cause more trouble. Everyone in the diner should be okay, its nine against 3. They won't start anything that outnumbered." Josh reassured.

We paced around nervously outside. I glanced over at the Condor and saw a light inside shut off. Stork was watching everyone from the Sky deck outside.

I ran for the ship and waved for everyone else to stay. Stork looked at me strangely.

"Someone is inside, stay here." I rushed by him.

"Don't go in there alone then! You'll be doomed!" Stork warned.

I crept inside and everything was pitch black. I saw something move in the hall way. I tip toed in and started to shiver. I heard a bang in the engine room downstairs. I slowly made my way down a flight of stairs. I was tempting to just run back out and wait for help. I bit my fear and kept going. I reached the bottom of the stair way and it was completely silent.

"I know you're here, Damon." I demanded.

"You're kind of wrong." Derek's voice snickered across the area.

I looked around trying to get my eyes to adjust to the dark. Failing miserably, I thought about running back up the stairs and out. As I took a step up, someone yanked me backwards and away from the stairs.

"Going so soon?" Derek asked in my ear. I summoned my sword and it flickered and evaporated. "Driest part of any ship… That is such a down fall for water manipulators."

He grabbed at me and stood between me and the stair way.

"Stork! Get help! HEL-" I managed to scream before he pushed me into the wall and covered my mouth.

"This is just what I need…" He said snapping my mother's necklace off of my neck. "We are going to lock this up in a contraption Cyclonis created. It's a box that uses a blocking crystal to keep an objects power contained. This stone is what gives you your bending. These can't be destroyed and no matter where you or the stone is, it will give you your powers. So if we put your stone in that box, no more bending for you sweetheart. You will still age as a bender though… That is unless they take away all bending with that Sfix stone again."

I started to squirm and kick. He laughed and let me drop. I jumped for the necklace and he threw it towards the stairs where Damon stood to catch it.

"No!" I screamed and ran for it. A wall of fire ignited before me in front of Damon.

"Don't worry… We'll be back for you. You're a big part of the plan." Derek snickered in my ear.

"They're coming." Damon announced as the fire wall died. Derek grabbed my arm and pointed at something next to Damon. He threw Derek a chain. He melted part of it together around my wrist and welded to the wall with his hands. I yanked as hard as I could and yelled.

They ran up the stairs and out of sight. Moments later Aerrow, Diana, Piper, and Finn ran down and saw me. Aerrow got rid of the chains and we all went outside to have a meeting. All the bad guys had left.

"What did he mean by aging like a bender?" Aerrow looked at Piper skeptically.

"Well this is good and it could be bad… I wanted to avoid this." She bit her lip.

"How long do they live?" Finn asked.

"100 years." She looked away.

"What ten years more than normal? What's the difference?" Tyco asked.

"100 years of no age changes at all. Then they pick up again slowly. It was more so they could have more offspring. So about 300 years more…" Piper laughed nervously.

"That means we have to keep the other three out of trouble for 300 years?" Aerrow flipped. "That means you guys won't be around with us…"

"Well I did start experiments on bugs to stop their aging and then picking it up again… It will take a while but I know I want to fight by your sides." Piper sighed.

"So do I…" Diana forced a smile.

Everyone else agreed and Piper disappeared into her lab to start looking into it more.

A few hours later I could no longer bend.


	6. Chapter 6

During the night Cyclonia had conquered Terra Gale, Terra Blizzaries, and Terra Saharr as we slept. They took in the squadrons and imprisoned them in Cyclonia.

"It looks like we need to break out the disguises to get into Cyclonia tonight." Finn wagged his eye brows.

"To get her stone out of that box and rescue the others." Aerrow agreed after we got off the radio.

"Turn on Terra Gale's news, let's see what's going on…" Piper rolled her eyes.

After a good while Finn ran into the lab excitedly.

"They are celebrating in Cyclonia tonight for the victory of gaining the terras!" He announced.

"So?" Piper cocked an eye brow.

"They are going to need entertainment." Aerrow smiled in the doorway.

"Oh no…" Piper sighed as Finn pulled his guitar out of nowhere.

"Come out here ladies…" Finn held a hand out for Piper's. She smiled and took it.

We moved out into the living quarters. Junko sat behind an old drum set and looked so ecstatic.

"Let's take it away." Aerrow grinned. They started and everyone was in shock. They sounded amazing. Aerrow sung, Finn was on guitar, and Junko was on drums.

"I call back up dancer!" Diana yelled. "My name will be Kitty!"

"What is everyone else going to be?" I asked.

"Well I'll be the guitarist's girl friend, Jillian." Piper gave the eyes to Finn and made him blush.

"I will be Slosh!" Finn grinned.

"I'll be Ty." Aerrow said.

"I'll be Drums." Junko said. We all laughed and let him take the name.

"Dan and I will be co manager and manager. I'll be Trey. He'll be Don." Tyco volunteered.

"Skyleigh you can be the singer's gir-" Diana started but I interrupted. "No no I can't sing!"

"I was going to say Aerrow's girl-" Diana again tried and I interrupted again giving her the stink eye. "Girl manager! Oh please... I can't"

"You should be Ty's Sister Kayla." Tyco blurted out.

"Yeah that way when we are on stage you all can look around." Aerrow nodded.

"Let's change and get cloaking crystal bracelets." Piper announced. We got ready and we took the Revolutionary ship. That ship blended in better. The Eight of us unloaded and went up to the door. Two huge guards stood in front of the door and looked at us funny. We had made sure to put on a Cyclonian patch on each of us so they knew we were "one of them".

"Hello, we are the entertainment." Tyco announced.

"You're the Pussycat Dolls?" One of them chuckled.

"We are opening for them…" Aerrow sniffed.

"Are you all going on stage?" The other guard asked.

"We three are. These are our managers and this is my sister and that's his girlfriend. This is our dancer." Aerrow explained.

They looked us over and rolled his eyes. They let us go cautiously and it looked like they radioed someone.

"Keep a sharp eye guys. I think they told someone to keep an eye on us." I whispered.

"We'll be okay. We'll put on a song or two and then when the other group comes we will search." Aerrow whispered putting his stuff down.

"Okay we'll start looking a while." Tyco waved Piper and I to go with them. We walked around the curtain and were shocked to see the entire area filled with Cyclonians dancing around and drinking.

"Oh, they are already drunk, this should be easy." Dan snorted.

"Uh… no." Tyco pointed to the back. The entire back wall behind the bar, were jail cells. The Squadrons were inside watching and being spat on by the passing cyclonians.

We snuck down the stairs and split up. Piper and I made our way to the back near the bar. We stopped when the others started singing on stage. We screamed and carried on for a minute or two. Everyone around us looked at us funny. Then they started getting into it too.

"Now that they are distracted." Piper nodded behind us. We casually walked over to the cells and examined the locks. A lot of locks. All keys.

Piper elbowed me and she turned around to face the stage again. I did the same. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw why Piper had us turn away. All of them. Around the bar, all the head Cyclonians and the head Raptors sat around talking. This included our old teammates. Derek and Carver were lookin for sure, but Dark Ace, Damon, and Snipe were just glancing as the spoke.

"Okay. We are in way over our heads…" I whispered trying to look casual.

"Jillian! Kayla!" Dan yelled coming over waving at us with Tyco.

"The guys are doing great up there!" Tyco yelled.

"Like always!" Piper replied.

We grouped up so Piper and I could keep watching the biggest problems. It looked like Derek had a visible set of keys on his side. I looked up and he was just looking at us with a satisfied grin.

"Derek's got a bunch of keys on his belt loop, and he's staring." I muttered.

"We better move, he's really watching us." Piper suggested.

"What are we supposed to do now? We won't be able to get the keys. They have all the doors blocked, so we won't be able to look for her stone." Dan whispered.

"I have one idea to get the keys… Get the bar tender to keep serving him drinks and we will get the keys after he passes out." Dan suggested.

We suddenly realized that the music changed and the guys and Diana were headed our way they looked a bit worried. We started to walk to meet them but someone pulled my hand and spun me around lightly.

"Sorry to bother you, miss, but would you like a drink?" Derek let my hand go and waited for an answer.

"Uh, no that's okay, thank you though." I forced a kind smile.

"I insist." He smirked. He put a hand around my waste and pushed me towards all of the scariest people alive. I looked back at everyone sadly and they didn't know what to do.

He led me to a seat next to the Dark Ace and he sat down in the empty one next to mine. I looked around scared and confused.

"Please sit." He patted the seat. The team watched and waited.

This was our only shot to get the keys. I sighed and shifted uncomfortably. Aerrow looked as tense as I felt.

"No need to be so shy to join us." Damon leaned forward. I carefully sat down.

"I haven't seen you around here before. Your name?" Dark Ace asked.

"The name's Kayla. I'm not from around here. I travel with my brother and his band. We support Cyclonia." The words stung my mouth.

The bar tender placed a drink with an umbrella sticking out of it, in front of me. I pushed it away.

"That's the best in the house." Derek pointed to the drink.

"First of all, I don't drink. I'm only 18. Second of all, I want to know why you dragged me over here." I glared at Derek.

"Oh I see…" He thought for a second. "What could I interest you in then?"

"How about a tour of the place?" I thought quickly about my stone and getting the keys. "I've never been here before and I'd love to have a look around."

"I wouldn't mind showing you around." Derek smiled slyly. He stood up and pulled me up. His hand guided me through the crowds and I looked back to see the others but couldn't spot them. We went through a few doors and he said nothing. The halls got darker and darker. He stopped at a door and it slid open. He motioned for me to go first. I looked at him suspiciously and stepped inside. There was a clear box in the middle of the room with a familiar necklace in it glowing.

"What's that?" I asked staring at it trying to think of a plan.

"That is that brat Skyleigh's bending stone. Now that we have this souvenir, the rest of our plan can happen." He stared at the stone.

"What do you mean?" I asked. Getting suddenly uncomfortable with how close he was to me.

"We are going to kidnap her and force her to be a Cyclonian or be tortured the rest of her life. Not to mention we could use her to get to Aerrow as well. He'll be on our side before you know it. We should have no problem after that to conquer the Atmos." He explained.

"Oh, I see… How are you going to kidnap her, she is never away from Aerrow, right?" I gulped as his fingers touched my hands.

"She isn't with him now. Am I right?" He chuckled as he ripped the bracelet off of my wrist. "Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

I turned around to look for any way to escape, but the only one was behind him.

I glanced back at Derek and he lunged at me with a cloth in his hand. He grabbed me cupped it over my nose and mouth. I breathed in and the last thing I remembered was falling into Derek and hearing him say, "Wasn't that easy?"


	7. Chapter 7

"Wake up!" A voice yelled. Normally I would try to ignore him but it never worked.

"Leave me alone, Damon!" I growled. I buried my head under my pillow.

Everyday started the same and ended the same. In pain. The night Derek had kidnapped me, they sent me to one of their remote training camps. Damon and his two loser buddies ran things around there and made this past month a living hell for me.

I was the one they gave a hard time, because I was the only one there being forced against my will to train.

I cried every night wishing that the Storm Hawks and Revolutionaries would find me. I wanted to see Aerrow. I dreamt of him every night.

Someone grabbed the back of my shirt and lifted me off the bed. I suddenly met the cold concrete floor once again.

The day started with a meeting with the concrete floor, a nasty breakfast, and training. It was common for me to end up in the nurses building because they would usually over work me until I am passed out or having an asthma attack and coughing up blood.

There was no escape. The entire terra was enclosed so no one can get in or out unless you are let out or in. My mind must have been let out somehow. I never gave them a second to find a weak spot. I knew I could never let my guard down.

Everyday I dragged myself along, putting up with the harsh words from my old class mates. They rarely hurt me, only during training or when I got an attitude with them. I would only speak to them if I needed to or if I had a smart comment to make. Since day one, I showed no emotion, I was stone. Except today.

"I said get up, Skyleigh. We are getting visitors today… Everyone is coming. Even my cousin." He explained. "They may already be here."

"Oh joy, so they can see that you've made no progress with me?" I muttered as I got up. On the inside I was scared to death. I haven't seen most of the head talons since the day Derek kidnapped me. I haven't even met Cyclonis.

"No progress? Trust me, you have improved. Not to mention this place was more to make you suffer and to keep you hidden. You will be forced and you won't have any choice but to help us conquer terras." He nodded and started to walk out of the room.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but that will never happen." I stated and he just laughed and walked away. I rolled my eyes and went into the bathroom and prepared for the day.

I ate the nasty over burnt toast and scrambled eggs that you could bounce off the wall. Then I went out into the court yard and saw a big ship in the middle of the field. I didn't see anyone besides the trainees around the field sparing. It was gray and drizzly outside.

I stopped at the door and cautiously scanned the area harder. Someone pushed by me from behind.

"Oh hey Skyleigh." A familiar voice greeted next to me. Lilly was one of the rare Cyclonians that wanted to be on the other side. Her entire family expected her to follow in their footsteps. She was just as tall as me and she had blond hair and yellow eyes. She was only 17 going on 18.

"Hey Lilly." I replied not taking my eyes on the field.

"I hope this isn't the day they take us back to Cyclonia…" She sighed.

"I'm scared." I sighed.

"You? Seriously? Damon, Chet, and Shane don't scare you." She pointed out.

"That is only because I grew up with them, unfortunately. You know, I really wish the Dark Ace didn't drag me into this entire mess from the start…" I shook my head.

"Yeah, but then you wouldn't have met Aerrow or any of the Storm Hawks or the Revolutionaries. You don't want to wish something good away." She advised.

"Yeah… I would do anything to be with them again. I'll take you with me, don't worry." I smiled at her.

"I like the way you think." She chuckled. That's when I saw them start to come out of the ship. It was most of the worst ones, Derek, Dark Ace, Repton and his goons, Carver, Ravess, and Snipe. The color drained from my face as I saw the witch herself. I notice Lilly tense up as well as everyone that noticed.

We stayed semi hidden behind the doorway and watched. The head talons were scanning the crowds and Damon was looking around elsewhere. They started to talk as they walked to another part of the building.

"Come on." Lilly yanked me back into the building.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Where ever they are going. Spy time!" She smiled.

"I know we spy on the other three, but if we get caught this time, it's a whole new ball game… " I warned.

"We won't get caught, you worry too much." She shrugged and continued to drag me along.

We snuck down the hall and ran towards the meeting room. We heard their voices inside already. We couldn't make out what they were saying. Then I made out a very familiar voice.

Aerrow. Then I heard Tyco.

"I hear Aerrow and Tyco…" I whispered.

"Yeah, you're right." A different voice spoke behind me. Both of us jumped around and Shane pushed us through the door. "We were expecting you."

The first thing I saw was a big screen with Aerrow, Tyco, Starling, Dove, and Harrier on it. They all seemed as shocked as I felt.

"Skyleigh!" Aerrow exclaimed happily. Shane kept pushing me, but I couldn't take my attention away from Aerrow.

"Now you see she is alive and still moving… She was being trained by me the entire time." Damon pointed at me.

"Are you okay?" Aerrow asked.

"So far I'm fine… I miss you guys… Don't worry about me, I can withstand this. I've put up with these idiots for a good portion of my life, I'll be fine." I pulled away from Shane.

"We will find you, don't worry." Tyco replied.

"Good luck. She isn't staying here anymore. She completed phase one. Now, that she knows the moves, she is going to be brought to her new home in Cyclonia with us. We will have her fighting you all before you know it." Derek snickered.

"That will never happen." I spoke softly.

"We'll see about that. I have really good negotiators here." said a creepy voice that I recognized.

"You… Why are you doing this? Why am I here?" I shook my head and looked at Cyclonis.

"My original plan was to activate the Cyclonian benders to defeat the Sky Knight squadrons. The Storm Hawks would have been first on the list. It was quite a shock to learn that you two were carriers. Unfortunately you need to stay alive to help us continue the bending generations. We have you, but Aerrow and the other Sky Knights still find a way to ruin our plans, just not as much, you helped them a lot, believe it or not. Once we have Aerrow on our side, it should be a little easier to conquer terras. Since you two are so in love with each other, you are the perfect bait to get him here." She explained.

I looked up at Aerrow startled. He looked at me the same way. I could feel my face fluster.

"Even now that you know she is bait, you still will come. Just wait until she starts her training. We can't kill her, but will push her until she is damn close to dead." Dark Ace laughed at Aerrow.

"Just hang in there, Skyleigh. You'll be safe again soon." Dove reassured.

She reached forward and the screen went blank. I felt fear creep into my mind suddenly. Then anger and confusion, I felt like I was going to burst into tears.

"Now they should be formulating a plan to get her back. Once we get him, we get rid of his bending and lock him away, it would be no use to try and force him to fight for us. He's too persistent. This one on the other hand, we may be able to get her on our side. That will be everyone's side project, just for fun." Cyclonis chuckled.

"Skyleigh?" Lilly's voice came up behind me as I stared at the blank screen.

"Why couldn't you have just left me alone? You had my crystal, I was no threat to you then." I turned back to the Cyclonians.

"What fun would that have been? Not to mention you are probably going to lure Aerrow to us." Derek shrugged.

"You are more important than you think…" Cyclonis warned.

"They are only trying to mess with your head, don't listen to them…" Lilly said. Chet grabbed her and pulled her out of the room. He came back in a locked the door.

"Warren will take over this place. He's already here. Damon, you and your team will come back to Cyclonia with Skyleigh. Collect your things now and report to the ship. All the second years will be coming as well." Cyclonis demanded. Damon nodded and he and his two minions scurried off.

I had nothing to get so I just walked away to look for Lilly. She stood outside the door a bit down the hall waiting.

"I have good news. I am a second year. I'm going with you to Cyclonia. I actually don't think that's good news…" She sighed. Then she saw my face. "Seeing them didn't help did it?" She guessed.

I started to break down. I slid down the wall and started to cry. She knelt down next to me.

"For one split second I felt safe again. If I wasn't so stupid, this wouldn't be happening. If I wouldn't have gone with Derek that night… I thought I could trick him into showing me my stone…" I sobbed.

"That was very funny." Derek snickered in the doorway. "You played right into our hands." We stood up quickly with fear.

"Leave her alone." Lilly leered at him.

"Sorry my mistake. I thought you would be dim-witted enough to fall for it." I snapped. His face got too close to mine and startled me. My fear rose in my throat once more.

"Well obviously I'm smarter than _you_ think. You're just upset that you luck ran out this one time. I'm sorry to disappoint you sweet heart, your luck isn't going to help you anymore, not if I have anything to do with it. I can't believe Aerrow let you go alone. He is very protective of his biggest fan… You must really miss him." He smiled cruelly. I choked back the tears again.

"You're an ass." Lilly spoke up behind him.

He chuckled and walked away, down the hall.

"I want this to be over… Without my bending, I am nothing against any of them. I don't think we can do this." I sighed.

"Soon we will be taught their moves, right? So we can use that against them. We can get out of this. I hope." She shrugged.

I sniffled and closed my eyes trying to fight my thoughts.

"I think I am in love with Aerrow." I started to cry again.

Back on terra Quake a group of squadrons grew more and more worried about the young bender in the cyclonians hands.

"If they hurt her, they will pay." Aerrow growled slamming is fists into the table.

"Aerrow, I know this is hard, but now we know where she is. She looked unharmed." Starling said. He sat back down.

He sighed and buried his head in his arms. The group just looked at each other uneasily.

"They are only trying to get you by telling you things. They won't really hurt her, right?" Josh asked with concern in his voice.

"I'm afraid they may. We are going to need to get in there and keep an eye on things until we can figure out a good way to get her out. It may be too dangerous for Aerrow to be near there though." Starling frowned.

"Hey buddy, we'll get her back. One way or another…" Finn patted him on the back. Aerrow sat back up again, sadly.

"Cyclonis is right about something isn't she?" Dove asked sympathetically.

"I think so." Aerrow sighed.

"About what?" Diana asked. There was a long pause and Aerrow got up and walked to the windows and looked out into the rising sun.

"I think I am in love with Skyleigh." Aerrow admitted. "That's why I will stop at nothing to see her again…"


	8. Chapter 8

_I looked up into the starry night sky and looked beside me into Aerrow's safe comforting eyes. He ran his fingers through my hair and traced my cheek with his fingers. I cuddled up closer to him and relaxed. I looked up again and instead of Aerrow's smiling face, it turned into Derek. I screamed and tried to get up and run, but he pulled me back and covered my nose and mouth, trying to suffocate me. _

I woke up screaming. A merb in a white jacket came over and tried to calm me down. The area was dark, but clean and very cold. Beeping echoed off the metal walls.

"Relax! You're in the emergency ward! You need to eat in order to get stronger. Damon knocked you out so easily because you are so weak from not eating. I've had you on a feeding tube since yesterday afternoon to get you more energy." He explained.

"Thanks I guess…" I sighed. The doctor nodded and walked out of the room.

Another month had slipped by, with the days dragging out longer and longer. I was no longer being trained by Damon. Lilly and I were being trained with them for a while and then two weeks later hadn't seen her since. I have only seen the outlines of the head talons, besides Carver, from a distance, watching from inside the layer. Carver was our trainer.

I saw my reflection in the walls. I remembered in the beginning where all the bruises were and seeing all the bloody noses. I still had a number of bruises but I could take on any regular talon with ease. I only sparred with Chet and Shane. I could also take them on. Damon was a problem for me, obviously. He cheated with his bending sometimes as well.

"Get up, some of the heads want you out in the fields right away." The merb demanded. "Now."

I got up unsteadily and stumbled out the door. My balance returned as I walked further. My mind's balance, on the other hand, was growing worse.

I haven't seen them since last month when they brought me here. I wasn't looking forward to this.

The hallways were dimly lit and miserable looking with stains on ugly brown walls.

There was a hooded figure coming up and it watched me as I walked by. I stopped to look back and it was gone. I took a deep breath and walked faster and got to the door. I saw that figure frequently. The door opened automatically startling me.

It was pitch black outside in the courtyard. No one was outside at this hour, it must have been at least 5am. All there was, was fog. I continued walking cautiously trying to squint through the fog.

"You'll never beat me, Skyleigh." Damon's voice snickered from behind me. I glanced around and saw no one, just the fog everywhere I turned.

"You cheat!" I yelled.

"There are no rules. Use what you got." Derek's familiar voice said behind me.

I turned back around and someone grabbed me and yanked my hands behind me.

"What are you doing?" I screamed.

"Making you one of us." Derek replied finally entering my view holding a familiar green crystal on a chain. Cyclonis had the only one found on the Atmos. They could hypnotize me to do anything with that.

"No, please don't." I begged with my eyes starting to weld up with tears. "I've been doing everything I've been told! I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Would you hurt your old friends? Your old squadron? What about Aerrow?" Dark Ace's unsettling voice chimed in. The fog seemed to clear enough that I could see. Dark Ace made his way next to me. The mention of his name was almost like a stab in the gut.

I stayed silent as more people came into view, Repton, Carver, Chet, and Shane.

"Why would she hurt the love of her life?" Chet snickered.

I could feel my veins run cold.

"Exactly, but it will get funnier when Aerrow gets the crap beaten out of him by his lover." Derek smiled.

"I just wish your parents would be able to see you kill your sky knight… Too bad." Dark Ace whispered. My anger grew to its boiling point.

My mind shut down and my senses took over. I felt as if ice shot up my spine and started to run out through my hands. I ripped away from Damon. My sword grew into my hand and I flung it at the crystal hanging from Derek's hand. The crystal shattered and blew up against the wall. My sword shot back to my hand and dissolved in my hand.

"I would never kill anyone… Not even in spite. Only in defense, if necessary." I informed. My energy drained all at once.

"How is that even possible!" Repton snarled.

"Restrain her and check her stone!" Dark Ace snapped. Carver took off inside.

I tried again to use my bending but nothing happened. Chet and Shane pushed my shoulders back into the wall and pinned me there.

"What happened to my crystal?" Cyclonis hissed coming though the door.

"She destroyed it. Her bending suddenly came back, but it appears it's gone again." Dark Ace reported.

"You're afraid of what I may be able to do with my bending." I convicted. "You all are…"

"Ha, don't jump to conclusions, young one. It would just give you a better chance of escaping." Dark Ace laughed.

"Exactly the same… You think there is a chance I may be too powerful for you and escape." I shot back.

"Think what you'd like sweet heart, we don't care what goes on in your mind. Probably nothing in there anyway." Derek snickered. I felt the ice in my veins shooting around again but then it faded away again. They somehow could see it on my face it came back again. My body tensed painfully.

"I just got over a freaking concussion, I don't need another problem, thank you…" I strained. I looked up and saw a few cyclonians in the back with familiar faces.

"That blocking chamber can't possibly fail." Cyclonis shook her head.

"It's not failing. That chamber is made of the strongest enhancer and blocking stones, she can't possibly get in contact with her stone." Dark Ace turned to her.

"Master, the box was cracked. The stone started to illuminate the room and it cracked more." Carver reported bowing to her. Cyclonis grumbled something to herself.

"Get the second one and put the entire other box in there for added protection. Since she destroyed the Hypnosis crystal, force her to do the task at hand. We only have minutes before we take over terra Rex." She turned around and walked away into the shadows. Chase and Shane let me go.

"You need to go and get your new talon uniform and armor on. You're coming along to help, Talon." Dark Ace snapped.

"Don't call me that. I will go with you to stop you, not to fight them with you." I stated and walked towards the door I came through before this whole ordeal.

"We'll see about that." I heard Derek mutter as I walked by him. I trudged up the stairs to my quarters. There was never any use trying to sneak by the guards at every door, so I never tried to escape. It was pointless. There were a lot of guards around the prison area so I couldn't get in to free anyone.

I pushed the button to my room and the door slid open. The door slammed shut again behind me. I walked over to my cot where I saw armor and a uniform laying across it.

I went over and picked it up. I examined the familiar talon attire.

Suddenly I felt a warm breath on my neck and hands on my shoulders. I gasped and stumbled around to face Derek. He smiled slyly.

"Oh, so sorry I didn't mean to scare you… Well actually I did mean it." He mocked running his fingers down my face, giving me a sudden flash back of Aerrow and I back on terra Gale.

"Please leave me alone…" I spoke softly trying to shake my most memorable moment with Aerrow out of my mind. I tried to walk past him but he put his hand out and it caught flame. He brought it to my face and stopped only inches away from my skin. I felt the heat and winced. He leaned closer to my face.

"I think you should do as we say, Skyleigh. You wouldn't want to get hurt now would you?" he whispered in my ear opposite of where his hand was. I felt involuntary tears flooding my eyes with fear. His lips brushed against my neck. His free hand traced my spine.

"Fine! Fine, fine, fine, just please stop." I sobbed. He took a step back and just looked at me.

"That was only your warning, if you don't cooperate your pretty little face won't be so pretty anymore." He growled turning towards the door. "Get changed and go to the hanger bay immediately. I think I got my point across."

The door opened and he stepped out of the room with the door sliding shut behind him.

I cried as I changed and tried to keep my cool as I made my way to the hangar bay.

Derek was directing talons into a battle carrier. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and chuckled to himself. Without looking away he wagged his finger at me to come over.

Damon, Chet, Shane, Carver, and Repton were across the hangar prepping the skimmers. Ravess, Snipe, and Dark Ace were gathering weapons. I felt so vulnerable and sick.

"Hey long time no see." A familiar voice greeted. I was comforted by a happy face.

"Hey Lilly, you have no idea how nice it is to see a friendly face." I smiled to my only friend on the terra.

"Man, you have quite a bit of bruises and cuts girl… What have they been doing to you?" she shook her head as she held up my arm to examine it.

I looked over at Derek and he was turned looking directly at me impatiently. "What happened to do as we say?"

I sighed and Lilly understood. I walked over to obey him and she came as well.

"No you two stay as far away from each other as possible on this mission. I don't trust either of you." Derek pointed from me to her. He looked at Lilly, "You get on the ship with the other talons."

She scrambled up the ramp nervously. Derek snapped his fingers in front of my view to bring my attention back to him.

"If you screw this up, so help me, you will be in for it." He warned again.

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes.

"If you disobey any of us, there will be severe consequences. You will be following me and doing as I say." He ignored my smart remark. "Now move."

He pushed me towards the ramp Lilly ran up. He guided me to the control room and had me sit down at a meeting table. The other heads including Repton and his brothers came in and started to discuss their plan of attack. I sunk down into my seat hopping they wouldn't see me. I got away with staying hidden for half of the trip.

They spoke to me but I just stared straight ahead and ignored them. Eventually, I buried my face in my arms.

"They are coming in to meet us, with a surprise." Dark Ace chuckled loudly.

I looked up and out of the window. I saw the Rex Guardians on their skimmers and to the left of them rode the Condor and the Revs ship. For the first time in the past two months, I smiled again.

"I'm going to warn you again, if you do anything stupid, we will make you suffer." Derek reassured. He grabbed my arm and yanked me up and out of the door.

"How do you expect me to do this? I'm not going to hurt any of them." I spoke up.

He stopped dead in his tracks and pulled me closer to him.

"You will do as I say! I won't hesitate to harm you. If you get away by chance today and I get a hold of you again, I will make your life hell." His eyes were piercing into mine. "Here is your preview!"

Before I could react he wiped out his flaming sword and it grazed my arm enough for it to bleed immediately. I fell to my knees screaming in pain, clutching my arm. Dark Ace came over and smirked at me and looked at Derek.

"I think that could help lure them in, especially if Aerrow sees his girlfriend hurt." He snickered.

"I kind of figured so." Derek glared down at me. He grabbed my opposite arm and yanked me up.

He pushed me towards the big door to go to the hangar bay quickly. The big door to get outside was open and talons were flying skimmers outside already starting to attack the brigade outside.

"Get on!" Derek held his blade to my neck until I got on the back of his skimmer. My eyes were pouring tears of fear and pain. He got on in front of me and we took off right away.

"Find Aerrow and the new ones." Dark Ace directed.

"Found them." Derek pointed down. Suddenly fire shot through the clouds up at us. Derek fired down forcing the fire to dissipate before it hit us.

That's when I saw everyone for the first time in two months. It seemed so much longer than that. There were others as well.

I spotted Aerrow right off the bat and my heart flipped a million times. Fear struck his face as he saw me.

"Skyleigh! Derek has Skyleigh! Hold your fire!" He yelled. Everyone stopped and looked at us in disbelief.

"Ha, you work like a charm." He laughed.

I looked around and saw everyone's familiar comforting faces. I was overwhelmed by everything all at once. All I wanted is to be away from these Cyclonians and be fighting against them fair and square. I realized how weak and defenseless I was at that moment.

Everyone just stopped and looked at me confused and worriedly. Radarr started to squeal and yell at Derek. Derek just laughed and fired at them to keep them afar.

Without thinking I grabbed his arm and yanked it back to stop him. The back of the skimmer got weighed down suddenly and someone yanked my head back by my hair.

"Don't interfere, loser." Damon warned standing on the back of the skimmer. I gave him the dirtiest look I was capable of.

"Don't touch her!" Aerrow snapped.

All of a sudden, a blast of fire engulfed Aerrow and Radarr.

"AERROW!" I screamed.

The smoke cleared and he had surrounded himself in his own fire to protect him and Radarr. Dark Ace took another shot then he stood up to jump onto Aerrow's skimmer.

I shot water from my palms towards Dark Ace freezing it into balls of ice. He cut through them as he noticed them hurtling at him. I looked at my palms as my energy drained.

"Obviously blocking crystals don't work!" Derek growled.

The combat began, no one shot our way. Only blocking Damon and Derek's attacks and fending off the other talons. I tried and tried again to bend but nothing happened. Dark Ace suddenly had Aerrow pinned to his skimmer with his sword above his head. Radarr somehow got knocked onto Finn's skimmer both of them watching in fear. I quickly jumped off the skimmer with Damon grabbing at me and I landed on the Dark Ace's back about 20ft down. My arms were locked around his neck and I pulled back with all my might. It allowed time for Aerrow to get up. He threw me off his back and I quickly grabbed onto the side of the skimmer before I fell into the wastelands.

I heard a skimmer flying towards me and I saw it was Derek.

"I warned you, brat!" He yelled. Someone shot at Derek's skimmer and it spiraled off course and away from me.

Dark Ace got knocked off Aerrow's skimmer and landed on his below when he saw me. I started to panic and tried to pull my body weight up. Someone grabbed my wrist to pull me up and another skimmer came behind me and I felt help me up onto the skimmer. I was quickly sat at the front of the skimmer and a pair of familiar comforting arms grabbed the handle bars and hit the throttle.

"Are you alright?" Aerrow asked over the commotion.

"Now I am." I shouted back.

"Hang on!"

We dodged shots and there were a few unfamiliar faces firing shots back. There was one guy in his late 20s with white spiky hair and green eyes. A girl about his age, with blond hair and yellow eyes was firing ice knives at Derek. Then I noticed Starling whipping a talon in the face with a strand of water.

The Condor and three other bigger carriers blasted at the Cyclonian battle ship. It started to smoke and dip down lower. Everyone was driving the talons back and away.

"Aerrow! I couldn't find Skyleigh but, I've got her stone! I just can't get it out of this box! I freed just about half of the squadrons they held captive. SKYLEIGH!" Starling drove behind us explaining her success realizing I was with him.

Suddenly Derek and Damon cut us off, just inches from colliding with us. Derek was pretty upset.

"Remember what I had told you earlier! I will make your life a living hell! You just wait!" He yelled. "You will suffer the consequences…"

"Once she gets her strength and power back, you won't have a chance. Especially with me in your way as well." Aerrow warned and pointed one of his blades at them. Blue fire shot from the tips blasting their skimmer.

It started to smoke and they fired one last fire blast at us, a big one. I jumped up on the front of the skimmer and summoned my bending concentrating so hard. I quickly created an ice wall and it melted around their shot putting the flame out. They growled and took off to the carrier.

The big battle ship swerved away with some of the other carriers following to make sure they left. I sat back down and sighed with relief.

"You exploded the box when you did that! That's how powerful this bending is." Starling smiled. She threw my stone over and it landed safely in Aerrow's hand. He held it in front of me. I took it and put it around my neck where it belonged.

We drove up to the Condor and landed on the platform where everyone was waiting.


	9. Chapter 9

We jumped off the skimmer and turned to Aerrow with his arms open to me. I hugged him as tight as my weak mussels could handle. Then everyone else wanted some hugs too. I was so elated to be safe again. It was the old crew including the unfamiliar people. The Revs and Storm Hawks. Everyone said they were so worried and happy to see me.

I had a million questions to ask but I was much too happy, tired, hurt, drained, weak, hungry, and bloody to remember.

The first thing Aerrow did was tell everyone to ask questions later until we got settled down on a safe terra and until I was comfortable.

"We need to get her gashes treated before they get infected." Piper was looking at my shoulder.

"Yeah that just happened. Then I think yesterday Damon knocked me out until this morning." I tiredly explained, suddenly I remembered something. "LILLY! Oh no! She's still stuck with them! No… We can't leave her there…"

"Who is this Lilly you speak of?" A voice asked.

I smiled knowing who it was right off the bat.

"How did you get away?" I asked turning to Lilly.

"I drove. It was pretty easy actually. I just hit the throttle." She snickered.

"Smart ass," I chuckled.

"She told us she didn't want to have anything to do with Cyclonians, plus Chet and Shane were yelling not to let her escape. That was convincing." Diana laughed.

"Okay come on we've got to get you taken care of." Aerrow gently scooted me inside and away from everyone. I jumped in the shower while he got the stitches ready to go. I put on my good old clothing, which was baggy now. Aerrow knocked on the door and he came in with the first aid kit. I rolled up my sleeve and he started to stitch it up.

"I really missed you." He smiled as he worked.

"Same to you." I blushed.

"We snuck in earlier today to see if we could get you out of there, but there were too many cyclonians around. We were there when they tried to hypnotize you. Then we heard their plan and left to prepare." He explained, "We would have gotten you out sooner but every time we tried, they'd be attacking more terras or guarding their terra. Now we found some other benders to help us out. We searched and had people touch the Sfix stone until we found a few."

"That's great," I grinned. He stopped and looked me over. His fingers ran down my arm, examining all the bruises and cuts. He sent goose bumps up my arms.

"I shouldn't have let you go by yourself that night. This would have never happened…" He sighed.

"Hey I was the stupid one, I shouldn't have went off alone with him anyway. I was so sure he had no idea who I was." I shrugged.

"How could they do this to you?" he asked softly pushing some hair out of my face.

"Most of the bruises are actually from training. Carver's training and practicing with the three traitors." I replied. "I didn't really have to deal with anyone higher than Carver until today and last month. One day of that was quite enough."

He just kept watching my reaction. I could see how worried he was. I looked away and in the mirror on the door. Then I saw why.

I was so skinny and pale. There were bruises all over me, and cuts here and there. There were bags under my eyes from lack of sleep. I looked very sickly. I didn't just feel horrible.

I sighed and shook my head. Aerrow started working on finishing the stitches.

That night after everything started to settle down, The Rex Guardians hosted a dinner for us all on terra Rex.

The guy with the white spiky hair was Nate. The girl with blond hair was Naomi. There was another girl with ginger hair and blue eyes. She was also another bender named Dee. Starling took them in and they formed the new Interceptors squadron. They gladly accepted Lilly into the squadron. Piper had let us know the good news about them slowing their aging down to our speed, with a special rare bonding of 15 different stones as we sat around the table. Only the revs and storm Hawks will have the life span of us, that included Lilly.

After a good meal for once, we all went to our ships for the night. I was first to excuse myself to my room.

I expected to have the best night of sleep ever but my dreams had other plans.

_I was running through a deserted town. The air was cold and the sky was filled with dark depressing clouds. I looked frantically behind me making sure I was far away._

_I rounded a corner and into an ally way. Before I realized it was a dead end I heard him laughing behind me. _

_I turned around and he was right in my face. He drew his blade and aimed at my heart. It caught flame and he smiled cruelly._

_"Say good-bye sweetheart." Derek snickered. _

I snapped awake, startled and very shaken. Aerrow ran in and turned on the light. He sat down next to me and let me talk about it to him. Once he calmed me down and left, I slept soundly.

Every night for the past two weeks, Derek would show up in my dreams one way or another.

Other than my dreams everything started to return to normal. I was enjoying my life with my family again. I looked like my normal self again. No one had brought up anything about it unless I would start the conversation. No one even brought up what Cyclonis had said about Aerrow and I either.

This morning started like any other, Aerrow, Tyco, Finn, and Junko crowding the radio to see if anything exciting was going on. We usually expected something little every morning, but this morning we heard that there were Cyclonian battle ships headed to terra Amazonia. We got right on it.

That terra was where they hid the Sfix stone. Everyone kept looking at me worriedly.

"Are you going to be okay?" Aerrow asked looking back at me.

"I'll be fine. I'm not worried. The heads may not even be there…" I hoped.

The terra came into view and there was no sign of anyone.

"Well this is odd…" Piper shook her head.

"We're doomed. They are waiting for us… Including those natives…" Stork shivered remembering when they all got stranded there. We landed and so did the other two ships. We all piled out.

"Let's investigate anyway. Skyleigh and I will go take a look in the temple where the stone is. Everyone else needs to split up and make sure they aren't here." Aerrow directed.

Everyone paired up and disappeared. We hiked through the dense forest until we came to a temple, hidden by moss.

He grabbed my hand lightly and helped me over the logs in front of the door. He lit a torch with his hand and the torches lining the hall way lit up as well. He held onto my hand and guided me to the end of the hall. It opened up to a room with a glowing crystal centered in it. The blue calming light from the crystal illuminated the room beautifully.

Aerrow sighed with relief. He let go of my hand walked up to it losing himself in the stone.

"It's amazing isn't it?" Aerrow asked.

"It's pretty, I'll give it that." I shrugged. I walked over next to him. He looked at me and looked away when I noticed. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

The glow outlined Aerrow's perfect features and made me blush as he looked at me again. He took a deep breath and faced me. I turned to him confused.

I was about to ask what was wrong, but his hands slipped around my waist and gently pulled me close to him. I was speechless.

"We never got a chance to do this back on Gale." He smiled sweetly.

My face reddened. I shakily rested my hands on his shoulders and my heart just about stopped as his face neared mine. Our lips finally met for the first time. His lips moved against mine in perfect rhythm, it felt like it could last forever. His one hand moved to my face and his fingers intertwined in my hair. My hands moved up and around the back of his neck. It got more intense and passionate. We pulled back and just looked into each other's eyes bewildered.

The moment was broken when we heard a familiar laughter in the opening of the cavern. I was so stunned with terror, I started to shake and not be able to breathe. Aerrow pulled his blades out and jumped in front of me.

Dark Ace stood before us holding the stone.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt, but thanks for showing us the way to the crystal." He cackled and took off down the hall.

"We need back up! Dark Ace is headed out of the cave with the stone!" Aerrow shouted into his head set.

Aerrow quickly kissed me again and pulled me along. I ran after him and whipped out my blade to back him up. We got outside.

"Three for the price of one!" Dark Ace snickered as he stood outside waiting. We looked around confused. I looked up and there was the infamous crowd of head talons on top of the temple.

"I take that back! We need SERIOUS back up!" Aerrow yelled.

"Long time no see," Derek jumped down in front of us. "You know since last night in your dreams."

"You infected her with a dream stone?" Aerrow yelled.

"I warned her, did I not?" he chuckled. Aerrow slashed at him and started their one on one battle. Both firing shots at one another.

Someone grabbed me into a choke hold and bent me backwards. I flipped myself the rest of the way backwards, kicking Shane in the face doing so.

I fired water at him and it snaked around his wrists. I froze it around a tree so he couldn't move his arms.

I tried to go help Aerrow but Chet came up and swiped at me. I froze ice around my hand, still able to flex my hand, and grabbed his sword. I kicked him where I knew it would hurt real badly and he collapsed to the ground. Ravess took aim at me from on top of the cave and I noticed as she fired. I snapped it in half with Chet's sword. I blasted her bow and it froze so she couldn't pull it back to fire.

A big shadow overcastted me and turned around to see Snipe with his club above his head. Someone behind me caught the club as it came down. I looked back to see Junko holding the club. I scooted out of the way and they started to fight. Everyone started to come back and fight. Dark Ace and Derek were both after Aerrow. I flung my blade as hard as I could hitting Derek's blade from his hands. He turned around angrily. I panicked and hid behind the tree.

I peeked around the other side and he was right there in my face. I summoned my sword back without thinking and it flew back into my hand. He slammed my wrist into the tree so I couldn't use my sword.

"Now the nightmare is real." He smiled. I bended ice around my fist and tried to punch him in the face. His free hand pinned that hand back as well.

Someone linked arms around his neck and pulled back. I was dropped down and I sent ice down through my feet and under his feet. He fell to the ground and Diane snickered and we ran off before he could get up.

"Retreat before this gets worse guys, we are outnumbered!" Aerrow yelled over the headsets and to everyone around them.

A wall of fire erupted before Diana and I. It faded and Damon stood smiling.

"Don't you have a score to settle?" He snickered.

"Now you can't cheat." I smiled back. I took a stance with my sword.

"Bring it on old friend." He did the same

"We were never friends." I gritted my teeth and my sword surrounded itself in a blue frantic flame. His did the same but red.

"We have to get out of here, Skyleigh! He's tricking you to stay! We don't want you to go back!" Diana yelled at me.

"You want a fair shot, don't you?" Damon taunted.

Aerrow suddenly was in front of me with his hands on my shoulders. He pushed the hand holding my blade, down carefully. He quickly turned around and fired at Damon. He turned back and replaced his hands.

"Diana is right, we need to leave now. Snap out of if Skys…" He shook me gently. He fired again and we took off back to the ships. We took off and they didn't bother following.


	10. Chapter 10

Aerrow paced the living quarters and the rest of us sat at the table after we called the council.

"We lost the Sfix stone, we didn't win the battle, and then I find out Skyleigh is under a dream stone spell…" He sighed. "What else?"

"A dream stone? That explains the nightmares about Derek." Piper pointed out.

"What is a dream stone?" I asked.

"You were touched by a dream stone, so who ever falls asleep with that same stone, will meet up in dreams with you, but they are more so in control. They are still dreams, so he can't really hurt you." Diana explained.

"Please tell me there is something that can reverse this…" I sighed.

"Touch it again or destroy it." Aerrow sat down angrily on the couch. He rested his head in his palms.

Everyone got quiet. I got up and sat down next to Aerrow. I put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"Don't worry about the dream stone. I'll be okay." I smiled.

He smiled slightly. It disappeared quickly.

"We need to meet with other squadrons and attack Cyclonia. We need to destroy that stone. Once and for all. We can't let them find more benders for their side. Their next bender is inevitably, Cyclonis." Aerrow sighed.

"They won't attack seriously until they train, but if we could stop them from finding more benders in the mean time, that could help big time. Destroying that stone will be the only way." Starling stood up.

"Do you realize how dangerous destroying such a powerful crystal could be? It has got to be stronger than the aurora stone. It took away such power from people and its all inside that stone." Piper warned. "We can get the stone back and take it to the terra Nuclear where they specialize with deactivating and destroying stones and crystals."

"Sounds like a plan." Aerrow nodded. "Starling let's go get hold of the other sky knights."

They got up and went into the communication room. I sighed and looked around at everyone else. Radarr jumped up on my shoulder and squeaked worriedly.

"That explains your dreams, huh?" Finn asked.

"Finn, don't bring it up." Piper warned.

"No it's okay, now I can try and turn this against him." I shook my head.

"I just wish they would leave you alone, Skyleigh." Junko stated.

"Thanks." I smiled pathetically.

After a while Starling and Aerrow came out and told us, every Sky knight squadron that isn't captured was going to meet on Atmosia in a week to have the biggest meeting in centuries. They announced it on the community radio so everyone on Atmos would know about it and to be safe.

We started to set route for Atmosia. For about two hours no one really spoke too much but you could tell what everyone was thinking. Just as the sun began to dip below the horizon Aerrow got up and went to the door to the deck.

He nodded at me to follow him out. I looked around to make sure no one noticed. Junko, Finn, and Radarr were playing cards while Stork and Piper were quietly discussing the best path to Atmosia. I snuck out after him, catching a chill as I shut the door behind me. I couldn't see where he went.

Suddenly there were arms pulling me up. Aerrow slid me up and next to him. He didn't say anything at first. He just looked around up at the clouds. This spot was very nice, it was on the right wing of the ship. I looked up and examined the area.

He pushed some of my hair behind my ear. I blushed as we locked eyes. I looked away quickly. He just kept looking at me.

"I really want to ask you something." He finally spoke. I glanced back at him as my heart skipped a beat. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Can we make us official? Like boyfriend and girlfriend?"

I leaned over and kissed him with a smile. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close to him, grinning ear to ear.

"Yes." I nodded. My heart pounded and the butterflies swarmed in my stomach. He kissed me again longer this time.

We sat up there for a good few hours just in each other's arms until it was dark. We decided to head in so no one wondered where we had disappeared to.

After a late quiet supper, I debated on going to sleep or not. I began to nod off on the couch. Everyone started to notice and started to keep an eye on me.

"I think I'm going to try and sleep." I announced.

"Are you going to be okay?" Piper asked.

"Yeah, it's only dreams." I sighed. I slipped away and got myself ready for bed. Despite my fears I was out like a light.

_I stood alone on a deserted terra. It was just a big rock. The gray sky misted around me. I looked around nervously to find him._

_"I really wasn't expecting you to fall asleep tonight." His voice echoed into the sky._

_"You can't hurt me here, so I'm not afraid." I replied calmly._

_"I beg to differ."He chuckled._

_I turned again and his face was two inches from mine. I almost lost my balance from the startling closeness. He slammed me to the ground with his arm knocking the wind out of me. To my amazement, I swore I felt pain._

_He took a step towards me and I scurried to my feet. I backed up to the edge of the slab of land and he came as close as he could. He pushed me backwards and grabbed the collar of my shirt. He smiled cruelly, obviously pleased with my fear._

_I made the mistake of looking down into the Wastelands. _

_"You just wait until we rule the Atmos. I'll make you our pet." He snickered. "You all will be our slaves, only because being killed is the easy way out. For now, I get to start with you in your precious dreams."_

_"Why are you doing this to me?" I cried._

_"Number one, it's fun, two, you're the enemy and you always will be." He explained. He let me drop._

"Wake up!" Aerrow yelled. He was above me shaking me.

I gasped for air. I was in a cold sweat having a hard time breathing.

"Thanks," I sighed.

"You just sounded like you weren't getting any air." He stated worriedly. "What happened?"

"He knocked me off a terra and I was falling. I'm okay though." I reassured.

We both realized at the same time, that Aerrow was still over top of me with his hands on my shoulders. We both sat up embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously trying to think of something to say.

"Did you want me to stay with you for a bit?" He asked.

"I'd like that." I nodded.

His hand brushed the side of my face calmingly.

"I'm sorry he's doing this to you. I'm sorry about everything that has happened since you joined the Wildfires." He shook his head.

"Don't be. I'm glad it all happened the way it did." I smiled pathetically.

"What do you mean? You're happy about what all you've been through?" He looked in my eyes with sincere concern.

"I'm not happy about what it took to get here, but right now, I've never felt so happy. It was worth it." I blushed.

He chuckled with a smile. "Now I get it." He leaned down and kissed me. He kissed me again longer. He pulled me closer and kissed me again. "I've never felt this way about anyone before…"

"I feel the same way about you." I replied.

The sunlight started to seep through the cracks of the blinds waking me annoyingly. My eyes opened to take in my surroundings, trying to recall last night. I suddenly realized I was snuggled up next to Aerrow.

Then I remembered what happened. I snuggled up closer to him and he looked down at me and smiled.

"Morning." He greeted.

"Morning." I replied grinning back.

"We are here!" Stork yelled over the intercom. "And its COLD!"

We jumped out of bed and realized that everyone was now up. Aerrow snuck across the hall and into his room. He came back out stretching to make it look like he just woke up. I couldn't help but laugh.


	11. Chapter 11

A week slipped by with constant worrying and listening for any reports of Cyclonians. There were no signs of them.

On top of it all, Christmas was only two weeks away.

We arrived on Atmosia in time for the meeting. We walked through crowds of people, in our heavy winter jackets. They were more so to one side of the room and every single person looked overly tense. Then as we pushed to the other side and we saw why. Harrier and Dark Ace stood up in front of the Councilmen's desk arguing. Behind Dark Ace stood the other heads all looked unarmed but entirely amused.

"What's going on here? Why are you here?" Aerrow yelled rushing between the two.

"Look this terra is now no man's land as of this morning. We have as much right to attend your meeting as you do." Damon butted in.

I started to feel dizzy.

"How is this no man's land? It's Atmosia. This is the terra we need to protect from you the most." Piper sneered.

"Why did this happen?" Aerrow turned to the councilmen.

"They threatened us to change some things. I'm very sorry, Aerrow, they are too strong right now and none of you were here, yet." He replied.

"It was either that or they all die and they give up everything. Seems like a good deal now doesn't it?" Dark Ace snickered.

"That isn't fair. What do you mean none of us were here. What about the Red Eagles? They should have been here to stop you." Harrier pointed out.

"They are in Cyclonian custody now." Derek pushed his way between his brother and Damon.

The crowd took a step back in slight fear.

"With the help of the other benders, this including myself." Cyclonis entered through the door.

"Gee couldn't see that one coming…" Chase rolled his eyes.

No one had a quick enough reaction to realize that hundreds of ice blades flew towards him. Time slowed down to half speed around me. I jumped before him and pulled my fist down and they all shattered to the ground following my gesture. Time sped up making the room spin more. I ignored the dizzy spell and stood my ground before Chase.

"How did you get there so fast?" Chase asked astonished.

"No man's land, remember?" I spoke ignoring Chase.

I realized every body in the room was at the ready and all of them put their weapons down at once.

"What are these changes?" Aerrow asked Cyclonis.

"The first would obviously be making this terra ours but we settled with no man's land. Second, we now control four new terras. We, including the Raptors here, now have Cyclonia, Gale, Blizzaris, Saharr, Bogaton, Vapos, Zartacla, Exeptica, oh and Quake." Damon smiled.

"Quake? You are such ass holes you freaking traitors!" Josh yelled charging towards Damon.

Again time slowed down and I raced over in regular time. I stood between them and I grabbed Damon's flaming fist and put the flame out with ice cold water. Aerrow was suddenly behind me as well putting his hands on Josh's shoulders to stop him. Then time caught up again. My head spun faster.

Everyone looked startled.

"You three will never quit pissing us off will you?" I asked stepping back.

"We will get that terra back… Don't worry." Chase growled.

"Don't you guys just miss being back on that terra? All the great memories, you guys were our best friends. I thought you'd stick by our sides no matter what." Shane spoke up looking back at Chase and Josh. He didn't seem enthusiastic.

"And you and Diana always admired us, what happened to that? Let me refresh your memory." Damon touched my face softly.

I was suddenly over taken by the old memories of middle school, when I thought of him as attractive and when Diane thought of Chet as hot.

This was the time of utter humiliation. There were no good memories during this time.

This particular moment was the day I wanted nothing to do with him anymore. It was during lunch in the lunch line. He randomly came over to me and pulled me close to him with his hands around my waist. He was about to kiss me and he just laughed in my face. Chet was waiting behind me to trip me. I fell right into someone with a tray of mashed potatoes. This time I noticed that Josh, Chase, and Shane weren't laughing. I ran out of the room and back to the orphanage crying, not going back for about a week. Ever since then, they would make fun of me horribly.

The flashed back ended and his hands were around my waist and he was too close to my face. I pushed him away as hard as I could and punched him in the face as hard as I could. He fell into Chet and Derek's arms.

"Oh I'm sorry, would you like some potatoes with that punch?" I smirked. Aerrow spun around and pulled me back a bit.

"HA! Go Skyleigh!" Josh laughed.

"Aren't you going to do anything? She broke the no man's land rule!" Chet yelled. Damon shook his head with disbelief. His nose started bleeding.

"That was purely defense! He was violating her space!" Piper yelled.

"Piper is correct, we saw with our own eyes."The councilmen gulped.

Damon wobbled back up and faced me again. He smiled. I stopped for a second and suddenly nausea came over me.

"You like the new toy here? It's a memory stone." Damon smiled. "What else do I want you to remember?"

"Back off!" Aerrow warned stepping in front of me. The room spun faster with the quick movement before me.

I felt a rush of air and I landed in Josh's arms.

"Whoa. You don't look so good." He stated. Aerrow spun around and felt my forehead. HE looked panicked. Damon looked over Aerrow's shoulder still smiling.

"I'm okay." I tried to get up to my feet. I took two steps and I lost my balance again. Aerrow caught me again. I held my stomach to avoid what was coming.

"Junko, Finn, get her outside, she's going to be sick." He said carefully handing my off to someone else. "I'll be out in a minute, Skys, hang on. Don't let them near her."

"She's that scared of me!" Damon laughed. We got outside and I ran for the nearest trash can. It wasn't pretty, but after that, the nausea went away. The dizzy stuck around.

Junko sat me up against a rock to rest. I turned my head to see Aerrow running out.

"What exactly is wrong, Skyleigh?" He knelt down next to me.

"I'm okay for now. I was dizzy and got sick. It all happened within two minutes." I shut my eyes.

"How can something like that just come and go so fast?" He asked.

"Got me, Aerrow." Junko shrugged.

"Looks like someone's not feeling well." The Dark Ace walked outside and towards us.

Aerrow shot up. I was going to get up but Aerrow gestured me to stay. Junko and Finn were up defensively as well.

I was about to get sick again suddenly. I jumped up and over the rock and ran behind a bush so no one would see. After that I must have passed out.

I woke up in the Condor in my bed. I looked around and realized it was morning. I looked out the window and we were still on Atmosia. I still felt off. I walked slowly to my open door and into the living quarters, visiting the bathroom to clean myself up, on the way.

"Are you feeling any better?" Finn asked from the couch.

"I think so." I stated groggily. "How long was I out?"

"Since last night." Piper answered from the kitchen. "Do you think you ate something bad?"

"I ate the same things as you guys and nothing different. It's probably a virus." I replied holding my stomach as I sat down in the recliner. Finn and Piper looked at each other nervously. "I didn't mean to freak you out. I'll keep my distance."

"That's not why. When one of us is sick we need to keep that person away from our enemies. Right now, we are still on the same terra as they are, but It's safer to stay here, because they made it no man's land. If we were to lift off the terra, it's anyone's game. You are really sick and very vulnerable. They will use that to their advantage." Piper explained.

"I'm sorry." I sighed.

"Don't be, we were going to stay here anyway. Most of the squadrons are here training. No one wants to lift off the terra, because just about all the Cyclonians are here and ready to start battling the moment someone lifts off the terra. It's the waiting game, now." Starling spoke from the control area.

"Fantastic…" I sighed. "Where's everyone else?"

"Training outside." Finn replied.

I got up and went to open the door.

"Stay close to them. The Cyclonians still can't be trusted, even here." Starling warned. I nodded grabbing my jacket off the hanger.

I slipped outside. The Revs and Interceptors were sparring along with Aerrow and Junko. Aerrow looked up at me and quickly glared to his left. Of course there was a Cyclonian battle ship parked where he looked. He came over with a smile again.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Better, I think. I'm really sorry about that." I blushed.

"That's nothing to be apologizing for. You were sick, what were you supposed to do?" He chuckled.

"Are they watching?" I asked uneasily.

He nodded looking over again. "They are ready for anything. They shipped the rest of their reinforcements here last night. We are delaying as much as possible to get ready for this. They are also trying to get us to attack them here on the terra so we would be the ones to start the battle. They are pissing us off intentionally."

"We've been trying to annoy them back by taunting them, with no luck." Tyco spoke up as he sparred.

"That's the wrong way to go with this. We need to show them that we aren't stressing and show them how much we don't care that they are here." I replied. "That will get them upset."

"You know, that may work." Starling came up behind us.

"But, how are we going to show them, that we don't care?" Dee asked.

"Have fun, dance, goof around, and laughing loudly, singing, like Finn does all the time. It will also annoy the hell out of them." Piper stepped off the stairs with a smile.

"Hey… I'm not annoying." Finn sniffed. "We need to have a huge party… With loud music."

"That is a great idea! A loud, annoying party with all the squadrons! They'll get pissed and snap!" Aerrow exclaimed.

"Yes!" Chase yelled.

"It will allow us to let loose a bit." Diana nodded.

"I call setting it all up!" Finn yelled.

It was all settled and Finn, Junko, Chase, John, and Lilly went off to get ready. I looked over at the cyclonian carrier again. Aerrow put a hand on my shoulder to pull me back to consciousness. He smiled and gave me a hug.

"You're going to get yourself sick." I smiled.

"I don't care. Why don't you go inside and keep resting." He suggested. I went in and watched TV for a few hours eating some peanut butter. I fell asleep and woke up quickly to yelling outside. The party was starting.

I ran to my room to get changed. After I did so, I caught a glance of a small red dot my calendar on my wall. It dawned on me that I was five days late for my period.

"No… I'm just late." I tried to convince myself holding my stomach. I shook it out of my mind and ran outside to join the party.

Music chimed loudly over the terra. The town's people also came out to have fun. Aerrow found me right away and started to dance with me. He was very smooth on his feet as he swept me around. The cat was out of the bag now.

"So when are you going to tell us you are together?" Finn rudely asked.

"Hmm… Too obvious?" Aerrow smiled.

"Just a bit." Diana laughed.

"I'm happy for you guys." Lilly smiled as she danced around with Josh.

"Aw so are we. Not that I didn't know it was coming or anything." Damon pushed through the crowd with Shane and Chet following behind like usual.

"No one invited _you_." Finn rolled his eyes.

"We don't need an invitation. You think this is going to tick us off? This is going to be one fun game here." Chet snickered.

"Let's see how we can piss you off." Damon glared at Aerrow. "You love someone who was in love with a Cyclonian, to start."

"I didn't even know you were a Cyclonian, Damon and it was a tiny school yard crush. It was pointless and stupid. You made me see that a long time ago. You were freaking horrible to me. You'd make me cry almost every day! I can see why now. When I found out I was going to be on a squadron with you, I almost turned down the position. Diana convinced me to stay." I yelled.

"You have a score to settle don't you?" He asked pointing to the side of his jaw for me to hit him. "Come on misfit."

I shut my eyes and counted to ten. I didn't care about what had happened way back when.

"No I don't. I don't give a shit about you or a score between us." I smiled.

"Oh but you do. Here's the thing. We will always have a score to settle, and now that we are real enemies it's all that will matter until one of us dies." He explained.

"I don't care." I shrugged. "If it weren't for you and your buddies, I wouldn't be surrounded by the greatest group of people on the planet, all the time. I should thank you for getting me here, I've never been happier." I grinned waiting.

"You're so welcome." He gritted his teeth.

"Yeah, you know what? Thank you guys." Josh grabbed his hand and shook it.

"Thanks." Dianna hugged him and smirked.

"We appreciate it. Thanks for making our lives so happy." Chase man hugged him and stepped back. He looked like he was going to blow up. His face was beat red.

"Thanks for helping to bring them to us." Aerrow added slyly.

He turned around and pushed more people out of the way. Chet and Shane glared at us and followed.

"That was so damn close! Way to go!" Aerrow congratulated us.


	12. Chapter 12

None of the Cyclonians came later that night. We were having a nice time regardless. We all went to bed around the same time. Of course Derek was waiting for me in my dreams.

I woke up in a panic in the middle of the night as Derek started to suffocate me. I flew to the bathroom and again got sick. I sat on the edge of the tub and started to cry. My back hurt so badly, but the nausea disappeared.

"Did you get sick again?" Piper asked in the door way.

"I don't think I'm sick." I sobbed quietly.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I am now six days late on my period." I could barely breathe. She got quiet for a second.

"Wait… Aerrow… Does he know that you think you're pregnant?" She asked.

"I just realized I could be, a few hours ago. No." I shook my head.

"Don't panic yet, Skyleigh, I've had a few scares myself. I know too much info. Here." She dug around in the closet and pulled out a box. "This is a very accurate test. I'll be right outside."

As I waited for the test to show the result, my mind raced and I was still crying uncontrollably again. Piper came in again and sat with me to wait.

"It should be done…" She shifted uncomfortably.

I took a deep breath and picked it up. I didn't want to look. My stomach flipped a million times. I glanced down at the positive sign staring back up at me.

"This can't happen, not now, not ever… It's too dangerous for a baby." I started to panic.

"You need to tell Aerrow, first off. I would now, he would want to know asap." She helped me up. She walked me to his door. I slipped in and he was already up sitting on the side of the bed. He got up and wrapped his comforting arms around me.

"I thought I heard someone up. Are you alright?" He asked looking in my eyes. I shook my head trying not to start bawling. He wiped a tear away from my face.

"I'm not sick, Aerrow." I started to cry again.

"Why are you upset if you aren't?" He asked very concerned.

I handed him the test and he looked at it for a long time with no emotion. He looked back up at me and kissed me.

"It's going to be okay. We will get through this together." He took me in his arms again.

"How Aerrow? There are Cyclonians right next door and we are awaiting one of the biggest battles alive. Even if this all blows over, we still have dangerous enemies all the time." I started to panic again.

"We will figure something out after this whole thing is done. I promise. It won't be easy but we don't have another choice. Unless you think you have another idea to avoid it all." He looked at me worriedly.

"No, that is defiantly out of the question." I shook my head.

"Good." He smiled. "Come lay with me and relax."

After talking for a long time we fell asleep. No sign of Derek this time. It was a good thing for I had a dream of our little baby.

When we woke up we decided to sit down with our squadron and only our squadron and told them what I had discovered last night. They weren't scared or disappointed, they were excited. Aerrow knew that Piper knew already and he was okay with that. We all stayed as quiet as possible. We needed to keep this news away from any Cyclonian, for as long as possible. Preferably we wanted them to never know.

"The only thing we really need to do is get her to a doctor as soon as we can to make sure the baby is okay. For a bender, the time for pregnancy is cut in half. So only four and a half months. We need to get out of here. For everyone's sake. This is terrible knowing that any minute they will attack. " Piper explained.

"So this is what we need to do. Now if we think about it, they left Cyclonia with barely anyone to guard it. We can all go and free the other squadrons. We are actually in no danger with all of us being in one spot at the same time. Quietly spread the word that we will all lift off at the same time at 12pm as fast as possible." Aerrow nodded.

So twelve came and everyone lifted off as fast as they could. WE split up and a few of us set sail for Cyclonia. It took them longer to load their ship up and they followed someone else. We were able to free everyone.

Despite the fact that we freed all of the other squadrons, we still were not able to take back the terras. Since we had reinforcements they didn't bother to try and start a battle with anyone. They just kept up their training. No one had found out I was pregnant.

The Storm Hawks decided to get a big beautiful home on a smaller terra, hidden in the woods. It was Terra Novella. The small town was on the other side away from the hidden paradise.

Whenever someone needed help or when duty called everyone minus myself got in the condor and went off for a few days. I was left alone with our Wolfskies, Zaria and Zoro for protection.

When everyone would come home they would park the condor under the terra and come up through the terra to throw any followers off their tail. It was a good start to a new life, but I missed the action. Derek was never in my dreams anymore, which confused me, but I was fine with it. I was happy and safe, not to mention patiently waiting for our little Mason to come into our lives.

thanks for reading look out for sequal


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